LIV files for bankruptcy protection with over $45m owed to players

LIV Golf has filed for bankruptcy protection with at least $45m (£33m) owed to players, who will now have the option to leave.

A Chapter 11 petition, which LIV says is to "preserve the company's business" as it attempts to restructure after Saudi Arabia withdrew its multibillion-dollar funding, was filed in the United States on Tuesday.

The breakaway league says it has found a new investor in BC Partners, following the decision in April by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) to pull its funding.

Documents in the petition outline money owed to LIV Golf's creditors with the 30 largest unsecured claims. Two-time major winner Jon Rahm tops that list with an unsecured claim of $7.5m (£5.5m).

Bryson DeChambeau ($5.7m - £4.2m), Dustin Johnson ($5.5m - £4.1m), Cameron Smith ($4.8m - £3.5m) and Tyrrell Hatton ($3.4m - £2.5m) are also among the top 30 creditors, as well as Brooks Koepka, who left to rejoin the PGA Tour in January but has an unsecured claim of $1.7m (£1.25m).

The total amount owed to the 14 current and former LIV players in the top 30 creditors is just over $45m (£33m).

A source familiar with the figures told BBC Sport the creditors list outlines the "amount owed and not paid for Q3" of 2026, not the full amounts.

The court documents show LIV estimates its assets at $100m-$500m (£74m-£370m) and its liabilities at between $500m and $1bn (£370m-£739m).

LIV Golf intends to commence its new majority player-owned league early next year and it is understood the Chapter 11 process allows it to start talking to players about their participation in LIV's future.

BBC Sport understands there is no obligation on players to sign on to LIV 2.0, regardless of whether they had previously signed multi-year contracts with LIV Golf.

Sources have said contracts under the previous iteration of LIV Golf will finish because of this court filing, with amounts owed to players and other creditors addressed through the court process.

However, it remains unclear when players would then be able to enter discussions with other tours.

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Since LIV's controversial launch in 2021, more than $5bn (£3.7bn) has been spent by PIF, with major winners including Rahm and DeChambeau lured by lucrative contracts and vast prize money.

However, the future of the concept - and its star players - has been shrouded in uncertainty, with the 2026 season having ended early.

LIV Golf chief executive Scott O'Neil told the BBC at the final event in Indianapolis last month he had "high levels of confidence" in achieving a "critical mass" of players to make the new league a reality.

DeChambeau said at the conclusion of that event he felt there was "a lot of potential moving forward" and he believed there was "something fun coming".

Speaking on Tuesday before this week's Irish Open, Rahm was tight-lipped when pressed on his future.

Asked if he knew what the coming months held, he told BBC Sport: "Yes and no. It hasn't really changed from my last interview in Indianapolis.

"There's just a lot of things in place, right? There's a lot of things that could happen and it's one of those things where time's gonna tell."

Rahm added: "I still have a contract with LIV 1.0 that I'm more than willing to fulfil, so like I said, time will tell."

The bankruptcy filing was made in the federal district court of New Jersey, where LIV Golf set up a subsidiary earlier in the summer.

Chapter 11 protection postpones a US company's obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business.

PIF is providing a bankruptcy loan of $49.6m (£36.6m) - called 'debtor in possession' (DIP) financing - to help fund the process.

When announcing its decision to withdraw funding, PIF said the "substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term" was "no longer consistent" with its strategy.

Despite its decision to stop bankrolling LIV Golf, PIF added it "remains committed" to its "substantial current and future investments in various sports as a priority sector".

On Tuesday, LIV confirmed international investment firm BC Partners as its proposed new investor in a letter to fans outlining its "next phase".

"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," said the letter.