By Frank Pingue
Nov 5 (Reuters) - LIV Golf, which shook up world golf in 2022, will liquidate after losing big-name players and the financing it needed to stay alive, the breakaway circuit said on Thursday.
Throughout the wind-down process, LIV Golf said it would remain open to, and continue to consider any offers from third parties that could get more value from its assets.
"In light of the current circumstances, we believe shifting toward an orderly wind-down is the most responsible path forward for the League
at this time," Gene Davis and Jon Zinman of LIV Golf board’s special committee said in a press release.
LIV Golf had secured $300 million of potential financing from BC Partners to allow the staging of tournaments in 2027 but scrapped the plan after a number of notable players opted not to commit to the league.
The future of LIV Golf had been in question after the circuit lost financial support from the deep-pocketed Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund beyond the now-completed 2026 season.
Leading golfers like former world number one Jon Rahm announced their departures from LIV Golf after it filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
LIV Golf sent shockwaves through the sport when it burst onto the scene in June 2022 with a mix of star power and past-their-prime veterans who signed lucrative contracts to appear in tournaments with guaranteed paydays.
MAJOR CHAMPIONS
The PGA Tour refused to let members compete in LIV Golf events, and suspended defecting golfers who included major champions like Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.
Those suspensions triggered a wave of bitter legal battles, including an antitrust lawsuit in which DeChambeau, Mickelson and others accused the PGA Tour of using monopoly power to penalize independent contractors.
Critics decried LIV Golf as a vehicle for Saudi Arabia to improve its reputation and deflect criticism of its human rights record. The Saudi government denies accusations of human rights abuses.
In June 2023, the PGA Tour and the Saudi fund again stunned the world of golf by announcing a framework to form one unified commercial entity, and end the litigation.
As talks stalled, the PGA Tour even enlisted Donald Trump in the hope the US president, an avid golfer whose courses have hosted multiple LIV events, could broker a deal.
The PGA Tour ultimately rejected the Saudi fund's offer to invest $1.5 billion on condition that LIV Golf would remain intact and fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan would co-chair the PGA Tour Enterprises' board.
In late April, after pouring more than $5 billion into LIV Golf, the Saudi fund said the circuit no longer fitted its investment strategy, and it would pull funding after the 2026 season.
"Building a global platform designed to bring new, younger, and more diverse fans to the sport of golf has been the round of a lifetime for all of us," LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said. "LIV Golf was fun, demanding, inspiring, at times challenging — but always rewarding."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alex Richardson and Ed Osmond)
