LIV Golf Set to Wind Down as BC Partners Walks Away
LIV Golf is set to be wound down after BC Partners, the investment firm that had been lined up to rescue it, abandoned its plan, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The league has played for five years. Its finances now run through a court process.
BC Partners Credit had hoped to provide a possible $300m (£223m) in financing. The firm decided it was not viable to back a new competition, dubbed LIV 2.0, and the plan for it has fallen away, according to the BBC.
The trouble began in April, when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which had bankrolled LIV from the start, withdrew its backing. LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. Chapter 11 is the US process that lets a company reorganise its debts while it keeps operating. PIF then provided a debtor-in-possession loan, a special loan that keeps a firm running during that process.
LIV also had to show it had enough players to continue into 2027. Those working on LIV 2.0 said they had about 30 players signed up, including major winners, and had received commitments from co-investors. Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia had both walked away from LIV, though, and the numbers did not carry the plan.
Lee Westwood joined LIV when it launched in 2022, one of its most high-profile signings. On Tuesday he said that nothing presented to him had been agreeable for LIV 2.0.
The court is the next stop. PIF is expected to tell a hearing on Thursday that the LIV 2.0 proposal is not viable. LIV had earlier planned to tell players and staff by Thursday that PIF would end its funding.
The collapse is a sharp turn for a league that was once expected to reshape the men's game. In 2023, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and PIF announced plans for a new commercial entity to unify golf. In April, LIV chief executive Scott O'Neil had rejected reports that the league's future was in doubt.
For fans, the immediate question is what happens to the players, events and contracts built around LIV. Those answers will come from the court and from the players themselves, not from the league's announcements.
