LIV Golf Just Filed for Bankruptcy. Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm Are Owed Millions After Saudi Arabia Pulled Its Funding
Saudi Arabia pulled its funding and star players are now standing in line as creditors, raising a question nobody expected to ask about the world's most expensive golf experiment: what happens next to the sport's biggest defectors?
LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed rival golf league to the PGA Tour, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, listing millions of dollars in unpaid compensation owed to star players including Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, according to court filings.
The filing, made in New Jersey, comes after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has bankrolled the league since its 2022 launch, said it would scale back the level of investment LIV had been receiving. PIF cited “geopolitical shifts” in explaining the decision, according to the filing, a rationale that follows a period of Middle East conflict and energy-market volatility.
Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion who left the PGA Tour for LIV that year, is listed as the league’s largest individual creditor among players, owed approximately $7.4 million, the filing shows. DeChambeau, the 2024 U.S. Open winner, is owed approximately $5.7 million, though that claim is marked “contingent” in the filing.
Dustin Johnson is listed as owed approximately $5.4 million, with his claim flagged as “contingent, unliquidated and disputed,” indicating LIV is contesting at least part of it. Cameron Smith is owed roughly $4.8 million, the filing shows. More than 20 additional players appear on LIV’s list of top creditors, which totals $64.2 million combined, according to a Reuters review of the filing.
It was not immediately clear what period of compensation the listed amounts cover. The filing does not specify whether the sums represent a single remaining payment, obligations for the balance of 2026, or another portion of players’ multiyear contracts.
PIF has invested more than $5 billion in LIV since 2022, according to the filing and people familiar with the matter, though some estimates of the total put the figure closer to $6 billion. PIF is separately providing $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing, subject to court approval, to fund LIV’s operations while it restructures.
LIV Chief Executive Scott O’Neil said the bankruptcy filing would give the league “the structure and time to pursue a landmark transaction.” Private equity firm BC Partners, an existing minority investor, is providing exit financing to support the restructuring, the company said.
Rather than paying out the amounts owed in cash, LIV has proposed converting player compensation into equity under what it calls a “player-first ownership model,” which would leave the reorganized league majority-owned by its golfers. The company is targeting a relaunch in early 2027 with an expanded 75-player field, a 36-hole cut – a first for LIV – and additional qualifying pathways, according to the filing. Planned 2027 stops include events in Australia, South Africa, Mexico, England and Hong Kong, in addition to the United States.
LIV has also opened parallel restructuring proceedings in England and Wales, reflecting its international operations.
The bankruptcy filing caps a turbulent 2026 season for the three-year-old league, which faced multiple lawsuits, canceled two events including a team championship that had been planned for Michigan, and delayed player payments tied to its tournament in Bedminster, New Jersey. LIV announced layoffs the month before the filing, and several players left the league for the PGA Tour during the year.
LIV Golf was formed in 2021 with PIF backing as a rival to the PGA Tour, luring top players with lucrative guaranteed contracts. The PGA Tour and LIV announced a framework agreement in 2023 to explore combining their commercial operations, but that deal has not been finalized.
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AJ has spent the past 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
