LIV Golf's season ends in Indianapolis amid an uncertain future and subdued players
LIV Golf held the final event of its season at The Club at Chatham Hills in Indianapolis this week, and nobody quite knows what comes next.
The circuit, backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, has already cancelled its Michigan team championship that was scheduled for August 27-30 and ended the 2026 season a week earlier than planned, according to Reuters. A June report from Reuters said LIV was relying on loans to fund the remainder of the season. Now the players who signed up for the breakaway league face a wait to learn whether it survives at all.
LIV's chief executive, Scott O'Neil, told BBC Sport that the league's "entirety of focus" is on completing a transaction — widely understood to mean a deal that would secure the circuit's future, likely through the long-discussed framework agreement with the PGA Tour. "Without the players it becomes very difficult," O'Neil said. He added that he had a "good level of confidence" that a critical mass of the right players would sign up to move the league forward, and that the future would be "player-led," with players owning majority equity, as he told LIV Golf's website.
The mood among those players, though, was anything but buoyant. Graeme McDowell, who joined LIV in 2022, described the atmosphere as "subdued." He told BBC Sport there are 57 players on the LIV roster with 57 different mindsets — some holding exemptions (guaranteed entry) on other tours, others with nowhere to go if LIV folds. McDowell said he would step back after Indianapolis to decide his own future, including whether to return to the European Tour.
Cameron Smith, who jumped to LIV weeks after winning The Open in 2022, struck a warmer tone. He said he loved the league, that it had done "wonders" for his family and for golf in Australia, and that it would be a shame for it to be done. But even Smith acknowledged he would need "a little bit of time to think about his future" once the season finished.
Jon Rahm, whose next move is the subject of considerable speculation, declined to speak to media beyond his tournament obligations. Bryson DeChambeau turned down an interview request from BBC Sport but said after Thursday's first round that LIV has "a lot against them" and he hoped people would give the league "one more shot."
LIV has announced format changes for 2026: all events will stretch to four days and 72 holes, aligning with the traditional tournament structure used on the PGA and European tours. An eight-tournament series is also part of the plan, Sky Sports reported. The format for the season-ending Team Championship would be announced later, the league said.
For fans, the stakes are straightforward enough. LIV arrived in 2022 with enormous signing fees and a shorter, team-based format that divided the sport. Four years on, the money has tightened, the calendar has shrunk, and the players who took the leap are left watching the leaderboard for news about their own jobs.
