LIV Golf files for bankruptcy after Saudi backers pulled funding as  PGA defectors eye road back to Tour

LIV GOLF has filed for bankruptcy in a move that is expected to trigger an exodus of their leading names.

A Chapter 11 petition was lodged in New Jersey on Tuesday, with the breakaway locked in a battle to survive ever since their Saudi Arabian backers announced in April that they were pulling the plug.

The latest development had been widely expected, but nonetheless marks a significant milestone in LIV’s dramatic fall four years after its arrival triggered an ugly civil war in the sport.

While bankruptcy might allow the circuit to limp on temporarily, it remains to be seen if their forthcoming union with BC Partners, a private equity group, will be sufficient for the league to extend into a 2027 season.

The greatest unknown at this stage is which of their marquee players, including Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, will stay with the project in a vastly diminished and less lucrative form, as it is understood that bankruptcy will allow the golfers to exit their contracts, even if they have time still to run.

DeChambeau’s deal expired at the end of the 2026 season, but Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are among those who were committed to the league through 2028. Sources had indicated prior to bankruptcy that both men were likely to leave in the event of the petition being filed.

Rahm, for one, hinted at the possibility earlier on Tuesday, when asked at the DP World Tour’s Irish Open if he would like to see a pathway back to the PGA Tour. He said: ‘I still have a contract with LIV 1.0 that I am more than willing to fulfil, so like I said time will tell.’

The choice of phrase - ‘LIV 1.0’ – would suggest his loyalty was contingent on his existing terms being honoured in order to continue with LIV, which has publicly taken to rebranding its future entity as ‘LIV 2.0’.

Having joined the league for a reported $300million in 2023, Rahm is understood to be owed as much as nine-figures due to the way his initial deal was structured. It is unclear how much of the remaining money would be offered under bankruptcy proceedings.

In the likelihood that they now leave LIV, Hatton and Rahm have a ready-made home on the DP World Tour, where they have retained membership during the civil war, but a return to the PGA Tour would require serving a 12-month suspension from their last LIV start. That was the route favoured by Patrick Reed earlier this year when he walked away from an entity that drained the Saudis of more than $5billion since 2022.

Daily Mail Sport previously revealed in May that part of LIV’s hope for survival was dependent on players accepting equity in the league instead of the vast sums of cash that fuelled its conception. Such an assumption of interest will now be tested.

In a letter to LIV fans on Tuesday, the circuit’s CEO Scott O’Neil wrote: ‘Now it is time to enter the next phase of LIV Golf. Today, we took an important step forward to get there. LIV Golf has entered a court-supervised restructuring process that provides us with the time and framework to address previous financial obligations and complete a transaction that will make the League’s next phase a reality. Put simply, this process is designed to build a stronger and more sustainable future for LIV Golf.

‘Plenty of well-known companies have taken this path before us, including Marvel Entertainment, Delta Airlines, and Caesars Entertainment, along with sports franchises like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Leeds United F.C.

‘We are entering this process with a clear plan and the support of BC Partners, well-capitalized investors with deep experience in sports and entertainment.

‘Our objective is not simply to preserve what we have. It is to make it better.

‘The next phase of LIV Golf will be built around a sustainable business model and deeper alignment between players and the League, with team golf at its core. Players will have the opportunity to share directly in the value they help create, while teams will be positioned to grow into enduring global sports businesses. And fans will remain at the centre of everything we do.’