LIV Golf will wind down and head into liquidation after its last rescue deal collapsed in a US bankruptcy court. There will be no LIV in 2027, and South Australia is left with a $45 million golf course built for a league that no longer exists.<\/p>\n
Five years. More than US$5 billion. Four sell-out Adelaide events.<\/p>\n
And it ended with a lawyer reading one sentence in a New Jersey courtroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan,\u201d Matthew Williams of Gibson Dunn told the hearing late last week.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it. LIV Golf is done.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The hearing was on Thursday 5 November in the US, Friday morning here. By the weekend, the obituaries were everywhere.<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s board special committee said \u201cshifting toward an orderly wind-down is the most responsible path forward for the League at this time.\u201d There will be no LIV in 2027. A formal liquidation plan is being lodged with the New Jersey bankruptcy court this week.<\/p>\n
BC Partners Credit, which had pledged US$300 million to a cut-price LIV 2.0, was the last to walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are disappointed that mutually acceptable terms could not be reached among the various stakeholders,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
CEO Scott O\u2019Neil called the whole thing \u201cthe round of a lifetime for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It certainly was for some. Before filing for bankruptcy, LIV paid US$15.6 million to retain seven executives, US$6.375 million of it to O\u2019Neil. Whether those payments can be clawed back is now a question for the court.<\/p>\n
The players are further down the queue. An attorney for the unsecured creditors, a list that includes plenty of players, told Yahoo Sports they hope to reach a settlement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund within weeks.<\/p>\n
And LIV\u2019s biggest name has already moved on. Bryson DeChambeau released a statement on Sunday, saying \u201cI\u2019m not going to rewrite the last four years\u201d and that \u201cwhatever comes next, I\u2019ll approach it with humility and respect.\u201d He\u2019s playing the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa from 3 to 6 December, with the DP World Tour paperwork due by 14 November.<\/p>\n
It fell apart quickly<\/p>\n
The Public Investment Fund stopped paying in April, two weeks after the Masters, after pouring in more than US$5 billion. LIV filed for Chapter 11 on 8 September. LIV 2.0 promised fewer events and smaller purses, and almost nobody wanted it.<\/p>\n