DP World Tour ready to embrace rebels including DeChambeau after LIV Golf collapses

LIV Golf, which ⁠shook up world golf in 2022, will liquidate after losing big-name ⁠players and last-ditch ⁠financing ​it needed to stay alive, the breakaway circuit said on Thursday. Throughout ⁠the wind-down process, LIV Golf said it will remain open to, and continue ⁠to consider, any value-maximising alternatives with third ​parties that may ‌arise.

“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 $300m 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 ​Public Investment Fund beyond the now-completed 2026 season. Leading golfers including the former world No 1 Jon Rahm announced their departures after it filed for bankruptcy protection in September.

LIV Golf sent shock waves through the sport when it burst on to the scene in June 2022 with a mix of star power and veterans who signed lucrative contracts to appear in tournaments with guaranteed paydays. The PGA Tour refused to let members compete in LIV 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 penalise 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 $1.5bn ​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 $5bn 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’s chief executive Scott O’Neil said. “LIV Golf was fun, demanding, inspiring, at times challenging – but always rewarding.”