WESTFIELD, Ind. — What’s up, sports fans — Dylan Dethier here. I’m like you, curiously monitoring LIV’s season finale from afar. Thus far with every rumor, report, announcement, cancelation and bit of spin I keep feeling as though I have more questions than answers.
The good news is that our own Sean Zak is on the ground, and I’ve brought him in for a brief interrogation.
Sean Zak, senior writer: Yes, Dylan. I was at the Club at Chatham Hills all day Tuesday, and I’ll lead with my favorite, most confusing moment before we hit the questions.
As he arrived to the driving range for a practice session, Bryson DeChambeau spotted a trio of reporters — myself included — and blurted aloud, “Oooh the mafia has arrived. The mafia. You guys love talking s–t.”
Was he mostly joking? Yeah, sorta. Is he still very annoyed with how he’s been quoted, contextualized, etc. this summer? Absolutely. There’s clearly more to the story there.
DD: Let’s start here: What’s the mood on the ground? I don’t believe there are ever fans on site pre-tournament at LIV, so tough to gauge that, but I’d love it if you could set the scene for us. How’s the buildout? How’s the media presence? What’s the general vibe?
SZ: After counting today, this is my 10th career LIV tournament, and that oddly matters. A few players and coaches mentioned aloud today how it’s interesting to them that only now golf’s mainstream media is showing up. (And to that end, I believe there will be even more arriving throughout the weekend.)
But if I can note one thing: I’ve been to a bunch, including the first, outside London in 2022. This week’s feels smaller than the rest. The fan village is smaller. There’s no concert stage because the concerts have been canceled. There’s still some proper hospitality suites and there will still be plenty of fans who take in the action this weekend — Indy set a LIV domestic record with 60,000 in attendance last year — but this one will surely feel somewhat less than that. Which might be exactly what Scott O’Neil needs to do right now. There’s been plenty of over-spending in the past to make LIV the biggest and brashest and loudest golf event you’ve ever seen. That’s part of what has gotten them in this hole.
DD: You’d mentioned there was a player meeting this afternoon. Any word on who went, what was discussed or anything else?
SZ: It was almost fully attended. I watched Joaquin Niemann and Anthony Kim escape early, but most players were in attendance for the full 50 minutes.
The most pressing info was that LIV’s unnamed “lead investor” was on hand for the meeting. They are understood to be Ted Goldthorpe, on behalf of BC Partners — a name that has been reported numerous times but never fully acknowledged by LIV. Regardless, Martin Kaymer and a few others mentioned how excited “the investor” was and how there was good, positive energy in the room … but no one would share any specifics beyond that.
Brendan Steele offered the most insight, saying it wasn’t the first time he’d met “the investor” but that the meeting was important toward “getting the players to be comfortable with how we want to move forward.” When asked for his own commitment level, Steele pledged his fealty, saying “this is where I want to be and I’m committed to LIV 2.0 as far as we can take it.”
DD: Seems as though there have been some hiccups with, uh, current league financing. To recap, next week’s team finale has been canceled and/or blended into this week’s event. The original combined purse would have been $70 million; now it’s $40 million. Some players’ payouts from LIV U.K. have reportedly not arrived on their typical schedule. The lawsuits for missed payments keep piling up. What am I missing?
SZ: Yeah, you’ve got it mostly covered! As I understand it, all those things would hint that LIV is barreling toward bankruptcy. That’s not something I can report, just something I can observe, and something people have been discussing in the industry for months. LIV allegedly (and admittedly!) owes a lot of money to a lot of people and is limiting its spending best it can. I look forward to asking Scott O’Neil about it during his press conference Wednesday afternoon.
DD: What about other players? We know some have already signed up for next week’s DP World Tour event in the U.K., while others are making plans for Q-School. Ian Poulter mentioned this could be the end. My guess would be that the golfers themselves aren’t feeling particularly chatty with the media, but do you have a sense of how they’re taking all of this?
SZ: There’s a funny thing happening right now: it’s the exact opposite of LIV 2022. Remember when LIV launched, and its CEO Greg Norman had basically been silenced? He was essentially barred from speaking to media four summers ago. Rather, LIV launched by shoving the players to the fore to let them speak about everything the league was doing.
But now? The majority of players are completely silent … and the CEO is doing all the talking. I asked Sam Horsfield how the meeting was and he said, “It was good. It was good, that’s all I’m going to say.” Today featured a lot of that. “Good” and “positive” before many of them hopped into courtesy cars and were on their way. Perhaps tomorrow and the rest of the week will offer more.
DD: Rumors and reports have been circulating about Jon Rahm leaving LIV. What do we know to be true?
SZ: We know his contract extends beyond this year, we know he plans to play a few DP World Tour events this fall, and we know tortious interference can pull you into court!
Remember that phrase — tortious interference — from the early days of golf’s civil war? One of the main contentions of the original lawsuits between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf involved the Tour accusing LIV of tortious interference of contracts. In other words, meddling with contracts by convincing players to break from the Tour regulations and media rights agreements they sign at the beginning of each season. That lawsuit went away with the June 6, 2023 Framework Agreement, but here in 2026 the inverse could obviously be true as well if anyone from the Tour went out on their own to convince Rahm to break his contract with LIV. Thus, in this hypothetical world where Rahm decides his LIV days are over … I think we’re still a few significant dominos away from that happening.
DD: Let’s talk concerts. You did some reporting on LIV’s entertainment offerings the other day — is it true that we’re not getting Thomas Rhett on the weekend?
SZ: Haha, yes. If you want Thomas Rhett, you’ll have to catch him on Thursday in Evansville — southwest of Indianapolis, where he’s actually going to perform. I can’t tell if he was the headliner, or if it was the DJ Disco Lines, who was scheduled for Saturday night, but LIV suggested that holding the concerts was no longer possible, due to “unavoidable changes in the entertainment program.” To me, that is a garbled way of saying we can’t be spending all this money.
As I wrote Monday, LIV’s entire existence has been as a blend between sport and music festival — and I trust it still wants to be that moving forward. It’s been a core differentiator, and success driver. But look at the concerts they’ve had since the Saudi PIF officially announced it would provide funding only for the rest of 2026:
One in Virginia, one in Korea, none in Spain, one in England, none in New York, none in Indianapolis, and obviously none at the canceled event in Michigan. That’s three total this summer. Concerts cost money. I saw it in person when LIV paid for Calvin Harris to visit Africa for the first time in his life. They just can’t afford it right now.
DD: Scott O’Neil is scheduled to address the media on Wednesday. There are no pre-tournament player pressers. What do you expect he’ll say?
SZ: I’m curious if O’Neil will officially name Ted Goldthorpe and BC Partners this time. He did not, but Goldthorpe was out and about at LIV Bedminster, with O’Neil and, apparently, meeting Yasir Al-Rumayyan. As I understand it, nothing is officially settled on the deal with BC Partners, and it’s still contingent on buy-in from two things:
- a specific number of pros.
- very specific, singular pros.
I expect O’Neil to say that talks are progressing and that the Tuesday player meeting felt like an important step on the journey. In reality, O’Neil has a lot of work to do locking in commitments.
DD: Put on your LIV Golf Optimist hat for a minute. What’s the best-case scenario for the league coming out of this? What’s the spin? Is LIV 2.0 a real possibility? Is the promised Investor on the ground there with you?
SZ: Gosh, what a question. I think the spin, in the face of some obvious bad looks, would be that LIV appreciated all the PIF did for it, but is now a bird planning to fly on its own.
I think LIV 2.0 is a real possibility, but I’m not sure it will feel anything like LIV 1.0. The purse sizes LIV is discussing internally for next year are only about 40% of what players have played for in 2026. I think the best-case scenario is that Bryson DeChambeau signs another contract, perhaps for just one year, and that alone is enough to settle any qualms other players may have. But that last part feels like a stretch. We can’t act like Bryson’s contract is the only one that ends Sunday night when the final putt drops.
DD: If the league continues on next year, there are still so many season-ending subplots. Like, this is supposed to be the week that players are relegated off teams. Jason Kokrak, Danny Lee, Martin Kaymer, and Michael La Sasso are among those in the Drop Zone at the moment. Are we still operating under the assumption that all of *that* is business as usual? Is there a specific subplot that has your attention?
SZ: I think no one on earth has mentioned the LIV drop zone to me in the last month … besides you. I think the league would take Kaymer back immediately in the event that he is interested. And based off our quick chat Tuesday evening, he sounds rather optimistic.
The subplot I’m interested in is how many players begin to properly look for paths elsewhere. I.e. use the DPWT and potential sponsor invites to its Irish Open, South Africa and Australia events throughout the fall to start building a schedule toward something different in 2027.
DD: Does this feel like the end?
SZ: Honestly? Yeah. The beginning of the end, at least. The end end may not come for months, but I’m just trying to be rational. There is too much mounting in the face of the league right now. The lawsuits are no joke. I’ve read them all. They’ll push the league toward bankruptcy, at which point things start to get a bit weird. It feels like we’re going there.
I will couch the above with … this entire convo is about what we know and what we don’t know. LIV won’t even name the investor that the entire sports world is becoming well aware of. So if that’s the case, how could I know what he’s cooking up? I’m hearing a lot of stuff, but most of the LIV enterprise has gone silent. Maybe the hail mary will work. Sometimes it does.
DD: Can you get me a Southern Guards hat, just in case? I like the rhino logo.
SZ: I actually did stumble through the merchandise center today, and there really is some good stuff in there. We’ll flash the plastic a bit.
