After five years and more than $5 billion in spending, the fate of the LIV Golf League was sealed in a 13-minute hearing on Nov. 5 in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey
That’s when LIV attorney Matthew Williams informed the court that the upstart league was moving from a restructuring phase to a liquidation phase in its Chapter 11 case. The night before, reports surfaced that BC Partners was withdrawing its bid to relaunch the league in 2027 after being prepared to spend up to $300 million to fund LIV 2.0.
Since April, when the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced it would no longer bankroll the league it launched in June 2022, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil had been working to find a replacement investor(s) and avoid watching the upstart tour that began with so much fanfare shut down with a whimper. In the end, he couldn’t make it happen, too many LIV players announcing they would not coming back in the remodeled version.
How did LIV Golf get to this moment? We compiled an interactive timeline of the highs, lows and in-betweens that have driven the chaotic five years of LIV Golf’s existence that now appears to be ending.
Golf Digest Interactive Timeline
The Ongoing Saga of LIV Golf
The most pivotal moments in golf's most disruptive chapter, as reported by Golf Digest.
2019
Andrew Gardiner writes a manifesto for a new golf world order
Andrew Gardiner, a British attorney, pens a vision for professional golf built on 54-hole tournaments, shotgun starts, team competition, and guaranteed money — and quietly begins seeking investors, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
2020
The man behind the Premier Golf League steps out of the shadows
Andrew Gardiner goes public as PGL CEO, confirms PIF backing, and calls himself a facilitator — not an overthrower — as Rory McIlroy says he's out and everyone else waits to see if the money is real.
Monahan warns players: join a rival league and lose your Tour card
Commissioner Jay Monahan draws the line years before the first LIV tee shot, making clear that any Tour member who commits to a Saudi-backed circuit risks losing their membership.
2021
Top players begin meeting with Saudi representatives at the PGA Championship
On the sidelines of Kiawah it becomes clear the PGL and the Saudi venture have split — the Saudis are now building their own circuit with Greg Norman as front man.
Greg Norman is named CEO of LIV Golf — "This is only the beginning"
Greg Norman, the two-time major champion, is announced as CEO of LIV Golf Investments, partnering with the Asian Tour — the Saudi playbook made visible: recognizable face, existing infrastructure, unlimited capital.
2022
Phil calls the Tour's greed "obnoxious" — and signals he's ready to walk
Phil Mickelson tells Golf Digest the Tour controls $20 billion in player-owned digital assets, then days later explosive quotes calling the Saudis "scary motherf—ers" surface — and Phil goes on indefinite leave as sponsors flee.
The Tour draws its line: no releases granted, play LIV and face suspension
The PGA Tour formally denies conflicting-event releases for Centurion, forcing every member to choose sides before the first ball is struck.
The field is revealed: 42 players, from DJ to journeymen, make the leap
LIV releases its inaugural lineup — a mix of past-prime veterans and one genuine star in Dustin Johnson — and Golf Digest breaks down who jumped, why, and what it means.
LIV tees off at Centurion — the Tour immediately suspends every player who showed up
Charl Schwartzel wins the first LIV event outside London, and within hours the PGA Tour suspends every member in the field — making a threatened schism suddenly, irrevocably real.
Cam Smith wins The Open — and gives the most awkward non-answer in golf history
"I just won the British Open and you're asking about that" — Smith deflects every LIV question at St Andrews, then signs weeks later as the highest-ranked player to defect.
Don't laugh at LIV — they hired McKinsey, and they're willing to wait
Golf Digest's Max Adler makes the contrarian case: the sparse crowds and pop-track DJs are a beta test, not the finished product, and the PGA Tour legally cannot replicate LIV's commercialized team structure.
LIV players sue the PGA Tour for antitrust violations
Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and nine others file a federal lawsuit arguing the Tour illegally used monopoly power to prevent independent contractors from playing where they choose.
Monahan at the Tour Championship: one word. "No."
Asked if LIV defectors could return, Monahan answers in a single word, then announces sweeping Tour enhancements to signal the institution is doubling down — not backing down.
Leaked: McKinsey's "Project Wedge" reveals LIV needed Tiger and Rory — and got neither
Confidential documents show LIV's plan required all 12 of the world's top players to reach viability — of those 12, only four signed, and a struggling league was projected to lose $355 million by 2028.
2023
Brooks Koepka, suspended LIV member, leads the PGA Championship heading into Sunday
The man critics said would fade into irrelevance goes on to win his fifth major at Oak Hill — the biggest competitive argument for LIV's legitimacy.
The bombshell: PGA Tour and PIF announce a framework deal — stunning everyone, including Tour players
The Tour reverses course entirely, agreeing in principle to unify golf with PIF — blindsiding loyal players, with Collin Morikawa tweeting "I love finding out news on Twitter" and Phil Mickelson declaring it "an awesome day."
Senate hearing bombshells: secret meetings, a Tiger request, and a bid for Augusta membership
Congressional testimony reveals the Saudis wanted Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as team captains, a non-disparagement clause shielding Saudi Arabia from Tour criticism, and a request for Augusta National membership as part of the deal.
Jon Rahm signs with LIV for a reported $600 million — the reigning Masters champion defects
The biggest in-his-prime signing in LIV history reignites the civil war just as framework negotiations were supposedly progressing, prompting Golf Digest's Dave Shedloski to write: "Holy sh**. $600 million? We're talking about a golfer here."
Can Monahan survive? Inside the Tour's two brutal years
Golf Digest examines whether the commissioner — who earned $18.6 million in 2022 while the Tour bled sponsors — is a Goodell absorbing blows or a Wagoner about to be sacrificed to save the institution.
2024
Fenway leads a $3 billion investment into the Tour — but money was never really the problem
Strategic Sports Group commits $1.5 billion upfront into PGA Tour Enterprises at a $12 billion valuation, but Golf Digest's Joel Beall argues the schism was always about greed and entitlement, not capital.
Bryson DeChambeau wins the U.S. Open — and becomes golf's unlikely people's champion
The LIV member once loudly booed holes a bunker shot on 18 at Pinehurst to nip Rory McIlroy by a stroke, prompting Golf Digest to write: "Perhaps DeChambeau needed to get lost in LIV to find himself."
2025
The Tour calls in the President: Monahan asks Trump to broker a deal with the Saudis
With talks stalled, the PGA Tour formally asks Donald Trump — who had played golf with Monahan after the election — to help close the deal, with the statement co-signed by Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.
"A stupid game of chicken": The White House summit collapses and the deal evaporates
Yasir Al-Rumayyan leaves the White House summit furious, both sides believe Trump is working exclusively for them, and Rory McIlroy — once the loudest voice for a deal — begins to wonder if the Tour is better off alone.
The Tour rejects PIF's $1.5 billion reunification offer — and starts to believe it doesn't need a deal
With Tour ratings up, LIV viewership stagnant, and only Jon Rahm defecting in four years, leadership turns down the formal Saudi offer and the cold war settles into a new, quieter phase.
Greg Norman is out — the man who launched LIV quietly exits after four years
His contract expired in August, he posts a gracious Instagram statement, and joins the Brisbane 2032 Olympics board — an exit made inevitable by the failed merger the Tour had demanded as a condition of any deal.
2026
Brooks Koepka leaves LIV and applies to return to the PGA Tour
One of LIV's three marquee names — who never wore its team gear and was openly critical of the league's failure to find an audience — walks back, with Rory McIlroy advocating for his return to new CEO Brian Rolapp.
Anthony Kim wins in Adelaide — the most compelling story LIV ever produced
5,795 days after his last victory, Anthony Kim shoots a bogey-free 63 to win LIV Adelaide by three shots over Jon Rahm, completing a comeback from addiction and 12 years away from the game that had nothing to do with the boardroom war and everything to do with why golf matters.
The Saudi money stops: PIF tells LIV it won't fund the league past 2026
Having poured more than $5 billion into LIV since 2021, the Public Investment Fund informs the league its backing ends after this season, triggering a leadership overhaul and a scramble for outside capital.
Scott O'Neil confirms a $250 million lifeline and a new "multi-partner" model to keep LIV alive
With Saudi backing set to lapse, the CEO confirms outside investors have committed roughly $250 million to a financing syndicate meant to carry the league through 2027 and beyond — LIV's bet that it can survive as a diversified, multi-partner business rather than a single-patron project.
LIV Golf files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while announcing a proposed restructuring agreement that could transfer majority ownership of the league to its players.
The filing, made in the District of New Jersey, shows that several of LIV’s biggest names—including Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith—are owed millions of dollars. Under the proposed restructuring, London-based private-equity firm BC Partners would finance an attempted return in 2027 through what LIV described as a “recapitalization transaction.” The plan requires court approval.
BC Partners agrees to fund LIV 2.0 with up to $300 million
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael B. Kaplan approves a restructuring plan for LIV with BC Partners in which they would relaunch LIV Golf. BC Partners, a private capital firm, commits $4 million with an investment of up to $300 million contingent on “a requisite number of players” agreeing to sign new contracts with LIV Golf by Oct. 25, two weeks delayed from an initial deadline for players to say they are returning. The plan, labeled LIV 2.0, would have players owning roughly 53 percent of the league, with BC Partners, management and other investors splitting the rest.
LIV Golf's most infamous defector says he's leaving the league
Jon Rahm’s lawyer, John Beck, states in bankruptcy court that the two-time major champion does not intend to sign on with LIV 2.0. A separation agreement was finalized a few days later. Rahm’s departure is the first of several prominent players who decide they too will not rejoin LIV in 2027, including Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Tyrrell Hatton.
DP World Tour plays hardball
DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings tells BBC Sports that the circuit will not grant membership or conditional status to any golfers who have signed up for LIV 2.0. This is a change from 2026, where a handful of players worked out an arrangement with the DP World Tour to play on both circuits. Players now have until Nov. 16 to let the DP World Tour make a decision where they'd play in 2027.
Bankruptcy filings reveal surprising payments to current and former LIV executives
Documents show that LIV Golf paid million-dollar bonuses to CEO Scott O’Neil ($6.3 million retention payment) and former commissioner Greg Norman ($9.4 million) in late June, after the PIF had announced it would no longer fund LIV after 2026.
BC Partners withdraws big to relaunch LIV
Multiple reports indicate that BC Partners was out as a source for funding, noting that while there was interest from LIV players to move forward with a league in 2027, there weren’t enough finalized agreements to satisfy the company to move forward with the investment. Only four LIV players—Cameron Tringale, Richard Bladn, Ben Campbell and Brendan Steele—had publicly confirmed they were returning in 2027.
LIV lawyers say they're moving from restructuring to liquidation phase of bankruptcy
During a 13 minute hearing, LIV lawyers acknowledge they are preparing to sell their remaining assets and ultimate shut down the league after five years and $5 billion in investment. "We believe the wind down path is the best path," LIV attorney Matthew Williams tells the court.