Martin Kaymer, a two-time major champion and captain of LIV Golf's Cleeks team, has told BBC Sport it is "highly unlikely" the circuit's team championship will take place in 2026 — and admitted players do not know whether LIV Golf will exist in 2027.

The warning carries weight because of what lies behind it. Saudi Arabian financial backing for LIV Golf was withdrawn at the end of the 2025 season, cutting off the funding stream that saw more than £3.75 billion ploughed into the breakaway tour across its first three years. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund bankrolled the entire operation from LIV's 2022 launch, luring stars like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka with guaranteed contracts worth tens of millions.

Without that money, LIV is scrabbling for new investors. Scott O'Neil, who became chief executive in January 2025, is trying to raise $350 million (£262 million) to keep the tour alive. Kaymer said that even O'Neil cannot tell players what happens next year because it depends on those investors — and if they decide to pull out, LIV will not play in 2027. "We were hoping for more information and decisions," Kaymer told BBC Sport, referring to a recent players' meeting. "Even our CEO cannot tell us what is happening."

LIV Golf's own website still lists a Team Championship for August 27–30 at The Cardinal at Saint John's Resort in Plymouth, Michigan, under the banner "Aramco LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship" — a title partnership with the Saudi energy giant. But the schedule beyond that is uncertain. Kaymer said the next LIV event, at the JCB Club in Staffordshire, England, is set, and the Indianapolis tournament is "most likely happening." The Michigan team championship, the season finale where squads compete over four days for a winner-takes-all Sunday, is the one in doubt.

The timing is awkward. LIV's 2026 schedule already includes stops in New York and Indianapolis before Michigan. Jon Rahm, who won last year's individual title and whose Legion XIII team won the 2025 team crown, said in July 2026 that he is "optimistic" about LIV's future but was notably noncommittal when pressed on specifics.

LIV has also been losing partners. The Asian Tour, which had been a LIV ally, agreed an alliance with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour — the two established circuits LIV was built to challenge. O'Neil had identified national opens and Asian Tour events as central to a new-look LIV schedule. That plan now looks fragile.

For Kaymer, the uncertainty caps a difficult stretch. The German, who holed the winning putt at the 2012 Ryder Cup, withdrew from LIV Adelaide in February with an elbow injury. He has played six LIV events in 2026, with a best finish of tied 25th in Mexico City. He is ranked 1,160th in the world.

LIV has also agreed to pay $1 million (£748,000) to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Stinger Golf, an Ohio-based tee manufacturer — a footnote in the circuit's finances, but another cost on a balance sheet that no longer has Saudi billions behind it.

What this means for the players is simple and unsettling. Contracts signed when LIV had deep pockets may not be worth the paper they are printed on if the money runs out. The tour that promised to rewrite golf's economics is now waiting to see if anyone will pay to keep it alive.