LIV Golf Files for Bankruptcy, Owes Rahm and Stars Millions

LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey after Saudi funding was pulled, listing star players like Jon Rahm among its largest creditors.

LIV Golf New Jersey LLC and roughly 50 affiliated entities filed for Chapter 11 protection on Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The league listed assets of $100 million to $500 million against liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion, spread across as many as 5,000 creditors. CEO Scott O'Neil said the process 'gives us the structure and time to pursue a landmark transaction and begin the next chapter of LIV Golf.'

Fourteen of the tour's own players make up nearly half of LIV's 30 largest unsecured debts. Jon Rahm tops the list at $7.47 million, followed by Bryson DeChambeau ($5.77 million), Dustin Johnson ($5.49 million), Cameron Smith ($4.84 million), Adrian Meronk ($4.44 million) and Tyrrell Hatton ($3.37 million). Forbes Australia reports the six players at the top of the list are owed a combined $31.4 million, with total player claims climbing past $40 million. LIV does not agree it owes all of that: DeChambeau's claim is flagged as contingent, and Johnson's is flagged contingent, unliquidated and disputed, meaning the league is actively fighting it.

The unraveling was rapid. PIF halted funding in April, saying it was shifting 'from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation,' and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan resigned from LIV's board soon after. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed had already left the tour in January. LIV then canceled its New Orleans event, halved the Indianapolis purse, scrapped its Michigan season finale, and laid off most of its operational staff.

Louisiana is the only state among LIV's 30 largest unsecured creditors, listed at about $1.22 million, according to nola.com. The state had offered LIV a $7.2 million incentive package for a June 2026 tournament at City Park's Bayou Oaks in New Orleans, including a $5 million hosting fee. After the event was canceled in April, LIV was supposed to repay $1 million it had already received under a clawback provision, but a Louisiana Economic Development spokesperson said the money has not been repaid and formal discussions to recover it are ongoing.

LIV is not shutting down — yet. Chapter 11 lets it keep operating, and PIF has agreed to provide $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing, subject to court approval, to keep the league running through the case. Under a restructuring agreement with London-based BC Partners Credit, the reorganized company would be majority owned by the players themselves, with LIV in advanced talks about what stake each player would receive. CEO Scott O'Neil has outlined a 'LIV 2.0' format with 75-player fields, a 54-hole cut, Monday qualifiers and a nationality-based team structure — a model resembling the traditional tour LIV originally set out to replace.

LIV targets an exit from Chapter 11 and the start of its 'next era' in early 2027, though no 2027 schedule has been confirmed and nothing is guaranteed until a bankruptcy judge and other stakeholders sign off. Whether the stars stay is the open question: Chapter 11 proceedings are expected to void existing player contracts, and Rahm told the BBC, 'There's a lot of things that could happen... time's gonna tell.' The PGA Tour has banned returning players for one year from their most recent LIV appearance and offered Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith a comeback path — none accepted before PIF pulled its funding.