08/17/26 03:32:00
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08/17 15:30 CDT LIV Golf to end season early and cancel the Michigan team event
LIV Golf to end season early and cancel the Michigan team event
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
LIV Golf is ending its season one week earlier than planned, announcing Monday
it will not hold the team championship in Michigan next week and instead crown
the team champion this week 20 miles north of Indianapolis.
The 12 events this year --- New Orleans was previously postponed --- is the
smallest schedule for LIV since it was launched with massive Saudi Arabia
funding in 2022 and featured eight tournaments.
Jon Rahm already has clinched the individual season title for the third
straight year. LIV Golf Indianapolis, which starts Thursday at The Club at
Chatham Hills, will determine who finishes second and third among the players,
and the top team.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the financial muscle of the rival
league from the start, decided in March this would be the final year of
funding. LIV Golf announced earlier this month it has an agreement with a lead
investor that would sustain a new version of the league for 2027.
"By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes
next and maintain the operational rigor this transition demands," LIV CEO Scott
O'Neil said in a statement.
"We are reimagining LIV Golf as a fundamentally new league owned by the players
and anchored in a sustainable business model, with an evolved fan experience
built for the markets where the game is growing fastest across the globe and
the support of world-class partners."
The cancellation of LIV Golf Michigan was not surprising. There have been
reports in recent weeks the tournament had not even started preparing with
grandstands and other amenities. LIV Golf said ticket holders would get refunds.
In another cost-cutting move LIV attributed to "unavoidable changes in the
entertainment program," the league informed Thomas Rhett and Disco Lines their
live performances would not take place at LIV Golf Indianapolis.
The final event with a $20 million purse that pays $4 million to the winner
could be the last big payoff for LIV and its 57 players. LIV did not identify
the lead investor or how much of a cash infusion was involved, or say whether
it was an investment or a loan.
O'Neil has said the LIV 2.0 version for 2027 and onward would involve making
players equity owners. He referred to it as a "second bite at the apple" being
equity instead of cash.
But this likely is the end of $20 million purses for individual outcomes, and
there already has been cutbacks. Rahm earned $6 million for winning the points
title, down from $18 million the previous two years.
"As we concentrate on finishing the season strong and building the next chapter
of LIV Golf, we'll carry the energy and enthusiasm our fans have shown us into
what comes next," O'Neil said.
The format for the 2027 season and the rosters also remain unclear. Still to be
determined is whether Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau --- the two biggest names ---
and other players who joined the league for its exorbitant prize money will
want to stay for LIV 2.0.
As for the final event, Joaquin Niemann, Lucas Herbert and Tyrrell Hatton are
in the mix for third place, which pays a $1 million bonus. DeChambeau is
comfortably in second, which pays $3 million.
Dustin Johnson's 4Aces team has a narrow lead over Australia-based Ripper, with
Rahm's Legion XIII and Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers team all in the mix for the
team title.
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