LIV Golf is Toast. Goodbye and Good Riddance!

When I first wrote about LIV Golf in 2022, I suggested that unless the series was able to get TV networks to air its events and more importantly, help revive its poor initial image, then it would be short lived. That turned out to be true as last week LIV Golf announced that financing fell through from BC Partners and it was filing for bankruptcy.

The lack of TV coverage was indeed a concern since LIV first relied on YouTube, and later stations like CW, to air its events but the series was never even really accepted by fans and organizers were forced to hand out reams of free tickets to make it appear like the golf courses were full.

Dustin Johnson won the individual title in 2022, Talor Gooch won the title in 2023, and Jon Rahm won the individual title in the next three seasons. 4 Aces won the team title three times, Crushers GC won the team title once and Legion XIII won the team title once as well. Why does that need to be said? Because other than those who live and die with golf they likely wouldn’t have known or probably even cared.

For that matter it is very unlikely 1 in 20 people who regularly follow PGA golf can even tell you what the team concept in LIV was and would not be able to tell you the players on each of the teams. Winners were never really promoted or mentioned in the golfing community and media coverage of anything to do with LIV was few and far between. Most true golf fans could tell you, however, which players won each Masters tournament, U.S. Open and FedEx Cup championships since LIV was founded and possibly even the winners of important LPGA and European Tour events.

Why did LIV Golf never take off?

Without question, the main reason is that it was created for all the wrong reasons.

The Saudi Government created PIF as an investment fund looking for products to help improve the country’s image because of pushback over human rights atrocities, including the killing of journalist Jhamal Khashoggi, as well as possible connections to 9-11. Many people in the industry called it "sportswashing" and protesters were happy to show their objections. Nevertheless, the idea for LIV was formulated and pitched to Greg Norman who agreed to be the ambassador and CEO for the new golf league and poach the best players from the PGA Tour. Norman didn’t say that LIV was being created to help build new talent or help better the product, but effectively to give him some revenge against the PGA Tour, who he implied, wronged him when he was a top player.

Greg Norman's 30-Year Feud with the PGA Tour

In 1993 Norman tried to punish the PGA Tour and create a counter league called the World Golf League to give the power back to the players rather than the management of the Tour. He proposed a new league where the players would split all the revenue. Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour Commissioner at the time threatened all current players with suspensions if they played in the new World Golf League, so the stars at the time like Nick Price, Fred Couples, Mark Calcavecchia and Nick Faldo said they weren’t prepared to risk their careers for something that may or may not be better than what they had and as a result, Norman’s new league never materialized. So, when PIF agreed to fund the new league, Norman clearly saw a new opportunity to relaunch his vision with the stars of today. Norman said he could get the best stars to come to LIV if they paid obscene signing bonuses along with really high purses and PIF agreed. Norman was reportedly paid $10 million for his tenure as CEO, but it was clear that settling a 30-year-old score with the PGA Tour meant far more to him than the money.

Like Finchem, new PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan told the players if they played in LIV tournaments they would be barred from PGA Tour events, but for the players who joined LIV all they could see was dollar signs. Phil Mickelson was given a $200 million signing bonus, even though he was 50 years old and clearly beyond his best years, and while he pretended money wasn’t the biggest reason for joining LIV, everybody saw through it. In an interview with Alan Shipnuck he said:

"[The PGA Tour has] been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse."

Mickelson refused to give specific examples of how he was wronged, although he did say that the best players should be given prize money as an incentive for just showing up and that players should be able to play less and still be guaranteed the big bucks.

How is that not about the money?

Huge Signing Bonuses Couldn't Win Over Golf Fans

And many golf fans were quick to note that Mickelson was famous for playing lights out in the Majors, Player’s Championship and other important events that provided prestige and large purses but didn’t treat the other tournaments with the same respect. In smaller tournaments he was obligated to play he would take chances he normally wouldn’t since he didn’t really care if he won those or not. This new tour offered tons of money just for showing up.

But it wasn’t just Mickelson who was clearly in it just for the money. When Dustin Johnson accepted a $125 million signing bonus he said he was doing what he felt was best for his family. There were some reports that he told others that if LIV folded in a few years, he wouldn’t care since he would have more money than he would ever need and would simply enjoy the good life and pack away the clubs. Those exact statements, though cited repeatedly, have never been verified. But one golfer who insisted from the beginning he would never join LIV because for him it was never about the money was Jon Rahm. In 2022 Rahm said:

"Truth be told I could retire now with what I’ve made and live a very happy life and not play golf again. I’ve never played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. My heart is with the PGA Tour."

That changed a year later when he was given the crazy signing bonus as well as bonuses for running Legion XIII and performance bonuses that gave him an estimated $600 million. Suddenly money was the incentive for playing golf and he signed with LIV in December 2023.

So to golf fans, what they were seeing with LIV was a bunch of rich, overindulged players crying about how badly they were being mistreated by the organization that gave them their start, fame and riches and those fans weren’t buying into it.

Ironically, now that the league is folding it appears many of the players will not be getting what they signed up for. Under the liquidation process, PIF is the first creditor to be paid and the players are near the bottom of the list. Most are owed millions in unpaid winnings and the “guaranteed future money” given to players like Rahm will almost certainly go away too.

With LIV folding, which players have lost out the most?

At least one writer suggested it was Bryson DeChambeau who gave up his best years being an afterthought on LIV, when he could have been a superstar on the PGA Tour competing with the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in the big signature events and for the FedEx Cup. Others have suggested Rahm for the same reason. I disagree.

filing for bankruptcy.

DeChambeau, Rahm, Johnson, Mickelson, Koepka and Cameron Smith were still able to play in every major tournament because of past victories in recent years, and Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed, Charles Schwartzel, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson had lifetime exemptions to the majors they won in the past. Moreover, DeChambeau won the U.S. Open in 2024 while with LIV and Rahm won the 2023 Masters prior to coming to LIV and was competitive in several majors after joining LIV. More importantly, DeChambeau is only 33 years old while Rahm is 31 and Cameron Smith is also only 33. Koepka made his way back to the PGA Tour under the returning champions program and it would be impossible to say Mickelson was harmed by the move in any way other than having the hit to his already less-then-shiny reputation.

Kevin Na and Harold Varner III Could be Paying a Heavy Price

I look at two players who were doing fairly well on the PGA Tour, likely would have been able to play in most signature events as they were consistently in the top tier, and had a big fan following. Those two players made very little at LIV compared to what they could have made on the PGA Tour, and they will never get back the respect they had because of their association with LIV. Moreover, any signing bonus they may have received was not significant enough to be listed. Those players are Kevin Na and Harold Varner III.

Na made about $10 million in 47 LIV events and Harold Varner III made just under $30 million in 58 events. Na is 43, so clearly on the downside of his career and he will be hard pressed to get back in the good graces of the PGA to play on the Champions Tour in seven years. Varner had almost a cult-like following before he left the PGA Tour and at 36 can still be relevant. But, unlike DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith can already return under the returning champions program, which I have little doubt Jay Monahan will revamp. Varner will have to start from scratch and likely be forced to go to Q school to return. And unfortunately for Varner, there are some really good young players who will likely outperform him. Varner said in the past he wouldn’t return to the PGA Tour because he didn’t like the grind, but if he does choose to return, the road to get back now will be even harder.

Positive from LIV Golf

Did LIV do anything good? Of course it did. The existence of LIV forced the PGA Tour to increase prizes and offer signature events where the best players could win larger purses in smaller fields. Nobody argued that the best players deserved to win more of a share of what the PGA Tour brings in, but what they disagreed with is that they were victims. Had the LIV players and their union sat down with the tour and talked things out like professionals, they almost certainly would have been given a better deal, including a bigger stake in revenue. Instead, they followed the promises of a disgruntled old golfer who got in bed with a shady government and promised to make everyone rich beyond their wildest imaginations.

LIV also showed why a staggered start, and 54-hole tournament will never be widely accepted on the PGA Tour, as a shotgun start is confusing and fans want 4-day tournaments. If there’s one thing the PGA Tour should adapt from LIV, it is the ability for golfers and caddies to wear shorts. There’s no reason a caddy should be forced to carry a bag of clubs up steep hills in 110-degree temperatures or that golfers should be forced to sweat profusely. It adds nothing to the event.

Final Farewell to LIV Golf

So, LIV Golf is officially over and most would say it’s not a day too soon. I have no doubt that Rahm, DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Smith and other stars will be joining Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed on the PGA Tour in the next year, and that is a good thing. Everyone wants the best to play against the best and make no mistake, these are the best players.

Hopefully Talor Gooch, Varner, Na, Abraham Anser, and some of the others will be able to get back on the Tour too, although they should be forced to go the long way to play on the PGA Tour again. Will Phil Mickelson get back to the PGA Champions Tour? Probably not if Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Steven Alker, Ernie Els and the other stars of that tour have anything to say about it. But if he does return, I have no doubt he will be booed extensively by spectators. After all, he was the first spokesman for LIV and admitted he was only going there because he felt he was mistreated on the PGA Tour and he didn’t care that the owners of LIV were “scary mother*ckers” because after all, he needed to be treated better.

Read more sports betting analysis and gambling industry insights from Hartley Henderson at OSGA. For more industry news, speculation and commentary, check out Hartley's Rumor Mill.