Jon Rahm is owed $7.47 million by LIV Golf, more than any other creditor listed in the bankruptcy filing the Saudi-funded tour submitted Tuesday, Sept. 8 in New Jersey.
The two-time major champion tops a list of 14 players who make up nearly half of LIV Golf's 30 largest unsecured debts. LIV Golf New Jersey LLC and roughly 50 affiliated entities filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Chapter 11 doesn't mean LIV is shutting down. It's the kind of bankruptcy that lets a company keep running while a court supervises it working out a plan to pay back what it owes.
LIV says it owns between $100 million and $500 million in assets and owes between $500 million and $1 billion, spread across as many as 5,000 creditors.
The 27 names
on the top-30 list with a dollar figure attached are owed a combined $64.2 million. After Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau ($5.77 million), Dustin Johnson ($5.49 million), Cameron Smith ($4.84 million), Adrian Meronk ($4.44 million) and Tyrell Hatton ($3.37 million) round out the top six, all of them owed money under their player contracts with the tour.
LIV doesn't agree it owes all of that. DeChambeau's claim is flagged as contingent, meaning LIV says it may not owe that money depending on what happens next. Johnson's claim is flagged contingent, unliquidated and disputed, which is basically LIV saying it is actively fighting that claim.
Beyond the players, IMG Media is owed $3.2 million as a vendor and the United Nations refugee agency is listed as owed $1.72 million under a grant agreement, though LIV disputes that, too. Three creditors, including Premier Golf League, the rival concept that predated LIV's launch, show up with no dollar amount, just "undetermined," because those debts are tied to lawsuits still being fought out.
So will Rahm and the rest of LIV's players actually see that money? Not necessarily in cash, and not in full.
LIV said Tuesday in a statement it wants to turn player debt into player equity. The tour signed a restructuring support agreements with BC Partners Credit built around what it calls a player-first ownership model, under which the reorganized company would be majority owned by the players themselves. LIV said it's in advanced talks with players now about what stake each of them would get. That's different from simply paying off what the tour owes them, and it's still just a plan. Nothing is guaranteed until a bankruptcy judge and other stakeholders sign off.
"This process gives us the structure and the time to pursue a landmark transaction and begin the next chapter of LIV Golf, one built around the fans, an innovative, player-first ownership model, and part of the global golf ecosystem," LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil said in a statement.
Even that plan doesn't cover everyone the same way.
LIV is already disputing some of the largest player claims on the list, including DeChambeau's and Johnson's, and any player who doesn't like what LIV offers can challenge it in bankruptcy court instead, with no guarantee of getting more. And players aren't unsecured creditors' only company on that front. Vendors, contractors and the UN refugee agency are all in the same boat, waiting on a court-approved plan to find out what they actually collect.
Gene Davis, who chairs LIV board's special committee overseeing the restructuring, said the board views the filling as "the most responsible path forward for the League and its stakeholders" after reviewing its options with O'Neil and outside advisors. LIV is targeting an exit from Chapter 11 and the start of what it's calling its next era in early 2027.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LIV Golf owes its top players $64 million. Will they ever get paid?
