10/13/2026 08:47:00
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10/13 08:46 CDT LIV Golf players face another deadline with their future in
golf at stake
LIV Golf players face another deadline with their future in golf at stake
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
For the second time in nine months, players who took the Saudi riches of LIV
Golf are facing a tight deadline on their future. The first was a lot easier to
ignore.
Brooks Koepka in January became the first LIV player to return to the PGA Tour
under financial penalties that included no access to equity grants for five
years. CEO Brian Rolapp then offered the same deal to Jon Rahm, Bryson
DeChambeau and Cameron Smith.
They had three weeks to decide and none took it. Why should they? The United
States was not at war with Iran. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund was still
pumping cash --- more than $5 billion and counting --- into the LIV Golf
League. They were rich and getting richer.
The deadline set by the European tour this week is far more daunting.
As LIV is trying to emerge from bankruptcy without Saudi funding, European tour
CEO Guy Kinnings delivered a "take it or leave it" ultimatum to anyone seeking
a home on his circuit --- take up membership, but only if they leave the new
version of LIV Golf.
"Players need to make a choice," Kinnings said. "We have rules and regulations
which are there to protect our tour and which our members must all abide by.
Players who are not willing to comply with our rules and regulations should not
be seeking to join our tour."
They have three weeks to decide.
European tour membership is the best alternative because the PGA Tour bans
players for one year dating to their last LIV event. Those who want European
membership have to disclose where they plan to play in 2027, and if that
includes LIV 2.0, there's no need to apply.
For European-born players --- Tyrrell Hatton of England, Thomas Detry of
Belgium and Spaniards David Puig and Josele Ballester come to mind --- no
membership means no chance at playing in the Ryder Cup.
Jon Rahm already has made clear he is leaving LIV after reviewing the proposed
terms of LIV 2.0. The prize funds are no longer $20 million. The schedule is 10
tournaments, leaving plenty of weeks to play elsewhere, except that the PGA
Tour and now the European tour are not options. Maybe they still have their
MENA Tour cards.
Scott O'Neil, the CEO at LIV Golf, has been preaching "complete, not compete,"
as a way of saying tours around the world should all work together. This is a
different message his predecessor, Greg Norman, had in 2022 when LIV Golf
launched by spending more than $1 billion to lure away stars who couldn't
ignore the money.
"This is an opportunity to start a movement that will change the course of
history by bringing new and open competition to the sport we all love," Norman
said.
Saudi-backed LIV was a threat that thrived on disruption. Bankruptcy LIV wants
cooperation.
BC Partners Credit has pledged $300 million for LIV 2.0 to move forward. The
amended restructuring support agreement has moved the deadline to Oct. 25 to
secure a "critical mass of players sufficient to operate a bona fide
professional golf league."
That's up to BC Partners to decide how many players --- and who they are ---
can satisfy the requirement. And it can extend the deadline so it can move on
with restructuring.
But it's a bleak future, certainly not as appealing as it was when LIV was
burning through Saudi cash to tempt players to leave. Now the carrot is equity
ownership in a league coming out of bankruptcy amid concerns everyone might
jump ship.
And then where do they swim? The European tour made its position clear. Rolapp,
meanwhile, said in January there was no guarantee the program that brought
Koepka back would be available again. He is guided by what's best for the PGA
Tour. He also answers to a membership that stayed put when so many others were
chasing generational wealth.
"There are 225 guys with tour cards," Xander Schauffele said last week in
Japan. "And if you sat down and interviewed all of them, you're going to get
probably three or four boxes of how guys feel. Some guys don't care, some guys
are really ticked off, some guys want them to have a huge fine, some guys would
let them back tomorrow."
Rolapp said in August the tour is built on players earning their place, it's a
membership organization that has rules and rules only matter if they're
enforced.
The PGA Tour, trying to sort out final details of the new competition model for
2028 (where and when to play and who's going to pay for it), also has to
consider a path back for the stars it lost who undoubtedly would make the tour
better.
O'Neil and Ted Goldthorpe, partner and head of BC Partners Credit, remain
bullish on their path out of bankruptcy and into a future that appears as clear
as haar on the East Lothian coast of Scotland.
Goldthorpe was at the Sportico Invest London conference last week when he spoke
to the financial sustainability of LIV 2.0.
"A lot of the money that was spent created the ecosystem and infrastructure
that exists today," he said. "We think we can run this in a financially
sustainable way because much of that spending went to getting the players, and
the players are here."
But are they staying? The clock is ticking.
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