LIV Golf’s tournament in Indianapolis last week brought the curtain down on a troubled season, with the Team Championship and Individual Championship reaching their climax.
It means there will be no season-ending Team Championship in Michigan this week. It has been cancelled and the thousands of people who bought tickets have allegedly been refunded.
But unless you knew, you would never know that one of the tour’s biggest events had been scrapped.
LIV Golf CEO, Scott O’Neil, said in a press release: "As the 2026 LIV Golf season comes to a close after incredible competition across 10 countries and five continents, we reflect on record crowds, broadcast viewership, marketing partner support and social growth, alongside historic comebacks, emerging young talent, OWGR recognition and new pathways to the majors.
"By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes next and maintain the operational rigour this transition demands. We are reimagining LIV Golf as a fundamentally new League owned by the players and anchored in a sustainable business model, with an evolved fan experience built for the markets where the game is growing fastest across the globe and the support of world-class partners.
"Professional golf is more unified today than at any point since we launched, creating a genuine opportunity to grow the game together. Indianapolis will be a fitting finale for the League as fans have known it and the starting point for what we believe it can become."
More unified than at any point since LIV launched? What planet is he living on? Nothing could be further from the truth.
There was more delusion to follow.
O’Neil continued: "As we concentrate on finishing the season strong and building the next chapter of LIV Golf, we’ll carry the energy and enthusiasm our fans have shown us into what comes next. The road ahead is possible because of the people who stand behind this League - our fans, players, caddies, employees, partners, and sponsors."
LIV Golf Michigan has been scrapped but the word "cancelled" was steadfastly omitted from the press release. LIV Golf says all ticket holders will be refunded.
(Image Credit: LIV Golf/Mateo Villalba)
Since LIV launched in 2022, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has spent £3.7bn, luring players such as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau with huge contracts and significant prize money.
Without that backing going forward, LIV Golf as we have known it will surely never be the same again.
Holding on to star players will surely prove to be crucial to the new deal and it seems certain that they are about to be dealt what will surely be a terminal blow with reports that Rahm has made his final LIV appearance and will be returning to regular tour golf in 2027.
Rahm was saying something very different only a few months ago. When the PGA Tour created a special pathway that allowed certain major champions to return earlier this year, Rahm decided not to take it.
"I'm not planning on going anywhere," Rahm said in January. "I wish Brooks [Koepka] the best. As far as I'm concerned, I'm focused on the league and my team this year and hopefully we can repeat as champions again."
Rahm also said in May that his LIV contract did not finish at the end of 2026. The Spaniard said he had multiple years remaining and admitted at the time that he did not see "many ways out" of the deal. However, it has been widely reported that he is owed $200m by LIV.
He reached an agreement with the DP World Tour in May to pay his outstanding fines, remain a member and protect his chances of playing in the 2027 Ryder Cup. He also returned to a PGA Tour co-sanctioned event at the Scottish Open in July, his first non-major PGA Tour appearance since the 2023 Tour Championship.
It is interesting to note that Tyrrell Hatton is teeing it up in this week’s British Masters. He entered several weeks ago so clearly knew in advance that the Michigan event had been pulled.
It would be no surprise to see both him and Rahm making several more appearances on the DP World Tour in the coming weeks. There is still much money to be earned and they will both surely be targeting the end-of-year playoffs.
But if they believe they are going to receive a warm welcome from the PGA Tour, they may be in for a rude awakening.
Rory McIlroy, a long-time critic of LIV, said: "I'm not part of the discussions but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be welcomed back straight away," said the Northern Irishman before the start of last week's BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis.
"They were offered this returning member programme back in February, the one Brooks [Koepka] took, but that has come and gone and I think it was said at the time that the deal they get going forward if they decide to come back would not be as good at the one Brooks got. So I'd say it will be a tough road back.
"Whatever [LIV] 2.0 looks like, they say they're trying to be more collaborative and all that, but this is the best platform for top professional golfers in the world.
"Were there some things at the start of LIV the PGA Tour could have done better? Sure, but I think if you look back to the start and the guys who went - Phil [Mickleson] was unhappy with some stuff or whatever it was - surely that just warranted a conversation instead of blowing the entire professional game up and doing something else.
"I don't take any personal satisfaction from people losing jobs but I have always felt this [the PGA Tour] is the best place to play professional golf and I'm pretty sure if the PGA Tour was handed $6bn it would have done a better job than LIV."
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