Tom Cary
Updated ,first published
LIV Golf has announced it has agreed terms with a “major investor” but failed to guarantee whether Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm will stay beyond this season.
Scott O’Neil, the LIV chief executive, who took over from Greg Norman last year, confirmed on Wednesday (Thursday morning, AEST) that the golf league has signed a lifeline deal to continue beyond this season after the withdrawal of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
O’Neil claimed the unnamed investor was big enough to underwrite LIV for at least “2027, 28, 29 and 30” without the need for any other investors coming on board.
In an earlier statement, LIV said the deal had already been approved by its board of directors, adding that it expected terms to be finalised “in the coming weeks, with the goal of entering a transaction in September”.
Speculation will nevertheless be rampant regarding the future of Rahm and DeChambeau, LIV’s two biggest names. Neither man has committed to the league following PIF’s decision to walk away at the end of this season after sinking US$5 billion ($7.1 billion) into the venture.
During the press conference, O’Neil declined several times to confirm that DeChambeau or Rahm would remain part of the league, assuming it survives.
Asked directly whether the deal would allow LIV “to keep and afford stars, the likes of Bryson and Jon Rahm, going forward”, O’Neil gave a long and rambling answer about Major League Baseball and how the model had needed to change to attract younger fans.
Asked a second time specifically about the importance of keeping DeChambeau and Rahm, O’Neil replied vaguely that LIV was “blessed with stars”, adding there was not “any bigger star on the planet in South Africa than Dean Burmester”.
O’Neil eventually said he would love DeChambeau and Rahm to “come along for the ride” but insisted that he had “enough support from enough players” for LIV to thrive regardless.
“I think when you have a global game, and you have 57 players from 21 countries and you’re playing in 10 countries on five continents, how you define ‘stars’ gets really interesting,” O’Neil said.
“So while I have all the time in the world for Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, I think I’d be remiss in saying they’re not only two of the biggest, best golfers on the planet, but I think they’re some of the biggest stars in sports, let alone golf.
“We would certainly love them to come along for the ride and journey because they carry maybe more weight than anybody in the game and I have a lot of time for that.
“I think we have enough support from enough players, and we have such an interesting format and global format, I think we’ll do quite well in getting the right stars for this game.”
O’Neil said he informed LIV’s players on Tuesday, after which DeChambeau led a players-only session.
O’Neil was expected to tee it up in the LIV Golf New York Pro-Am later on Wednesday in a group with Australian Cameron Smith. Other groups in Wednesday’s Pro-Am include Eric Trump, the son of the US president, who is playing with Rahm.
Donald Trump is not playing, although he is expected to attend this week. Trump won the senior and super-senior men’s club championships at the same course last weekend, later posting on Truth Social: “It’s called talent. I have it and they don’t.”
PIF announced on April 30 that it would pull the plug on LIV at the end of the season after investing more than $5bn in the venture.
At that stage, LIV’s future looked shaky. Some of its highest-profile players – including Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed – walked away, and O’Neil was reportedly looking for investment ranging from $250m to $350m. Nor was there any guarantee of any profit for the next few years.
A reimagined version of the league aimed to operate a 10-event annual schedule and projected profitability after three years. LIV Golf hired investment bank Ducera Partners to run the process.
LIV Golf cancelled its New Orleans event in June, and it is unclear whether its season-ending team championship, which was scheduled to be held in Michigan later this month, will take place. O’Neil said LIV had “not made any final formal decisions” but “hope to in the coming weeks”.
If Michigan does not take place, the 2026 season will end with the Indianapolis event from August 20-23.
O’Neil did say the league’s next phase would be “driven by and for the players”, who would be “majority equity holders” in LIV. He added there was no shame in being well paid.
“The best people in the world at what they do should make a good living, and I don’t think there’s any shame in that,” he said. “So many of them came [to LIV] because this was a good opportunity for them to make some money, and this second bite at the apple is equity instead of cash. That’s great. That’s an unbelievable opportunity.”
The Telegraph, London
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