Future of breakaway league in doubt as BC Partners investment plans collapse amid player departures
Reuters
Updated ,first published
Australia has all but given up on hosting the popular LIV Golf event in Adelaide, with a senior government official calling “game, set and match” for the embattled circuit following an exodus of players and reports of a key investor pulling its funding commitment.
LIV filed for bankruptcy protection in September as part of a restructuring after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced it would end its financial backing after the 2026 season.
A raft of players, including former world No.1 Jon Rahm, have since left LIV, prompting private capital firm BC Partners to drop its bid to relaunch the breakaway circuit, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Backed by public funding in South Australia, Adelaide has hosted four annual LIV events at the Grange Golf Club and was scheduled to stage the next one at Kooyonga Golf Club in March.
South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas said on Thursday he could not see the event going ahead and cast doubt on the future of the entire circuit.
“It feels like it’s game, set and match as far as I can tell,” Malinauskas told radio station ABC Adelaide. “That’s because BC Partners, that is the funders of LIV 2.0, I guess, have arrived at the same conclusion that we were, like, if you don’t get the players to sign up, then it doesn’t go ahead.
“In terms of other arrangements, we’ll have to take advice on that … but clearly the event as far as we can tell won’t be going ahead at Kooyonga next year.”
Kooyonga Golf Club filed a motion in a US bankruptcy court in September that said LIV had failed to pay the first instalment of its venue fee, despite being granted an extension.
The club said in an emailed statement on Thursday that it was aware of reports regarding LIV’s financing but had not received any advice from LIV. “We are seeking clarification,” it said.
In October, BC Partners made an initial investment in LIV and planned to provide up to $US300 million ($428 million) in financing to help the league emerge from restructuring and strengthen its finances ahead of the 2027 season.
LIV and BC Partners did not provide comment when contacted.
The disruption caused by the Saudi-backed league to global golf has drawn plenty of critics but Australia has been one of its most enthusiastic hosts.
More than 115,000 people attended LIV Adelaide across the four-day event last February.
The professional men’s golf league, a competitor to the PGA Tour, filed for bankruptcy protection in New Jersey in September as part of a restructuring after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which has invested more than $US5 billion ($7 billion) in LIV since its launch in 2022, announced it was ending its financial backing after the 2026 season.
LIV has said it plans to continue operating while it reorganises.
The private capital firm’s decision came as a deadline loomed to show there was enough player support to hold a tournament series in 2027, the FT said, citing people directly familiar with the matter.
LIV is expected to appear at a Thursday hearing in US bankruptcy court in Trenton, New Jersey, to discuss various contracts, leases and assets. It is unclear whether LIV’s fate may also be discussed.
LIV Golf launched in 2022 with funding from Saudi Arabia and lured leading players from the PGA Tour including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Australian Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson with lucrative contracts.
Others have been critical of LIV Golf, with DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings saying that LIV had sought to undermine the European circuit.
Kinnings is having to weigh up regaining some star power with unhappiness among some of his members that LIV players are just walking back onto the tour having caused so much disruption.
In an interview with The Scotsman newspaper, Kinnings accepted there was a balance to strike in integrating the returning players.
“But we also have to protect the tour against an entity who spent, so we are told, over $7 billion, with one of their aims being to ‘destroy the DP World Tour,’” Kinnings said. “I have heard that from so many different people they talked to, who I have known for over 30 years within the game and who I trust implicitly.”
Six-time major champion Rory McIlroy, who has been outspoken against LIV Golf since its formation, backed up Kinnings’ comments.
Speaking Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi Championship, McIlroy said: “I agree with everything that Guy said. They took players, they took sponsors, they turned professional golf into an arms race.
“They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy the European tour.”
Reuters, AP
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