LIV Golf paid $15 million to retain executives before filing for bankruptcy, court records show

FILE PHOTO: Louis Oosthuizen is among the top players who have indicated that they will leave LIV Golf. | Photo Credit: AP

LIV Golf paid $15.6 million to retain seven of its executives, including $6.375 million to CEO Scott O’Neil, in the months between Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund saying it was ending financial support and LIV filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The payments are part of a trove of documents filed late Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. That included 129 payments to creditors in the 90 days before LIV’s bankruptcy filing and $26 million to Jon Rahm in the year before the September 8 filing.

Another payment in the previous year was to Greg Norman, who left as LIV’s first CEO in January 2025. He was paid a $5.8 million settlement and a $3.6 million bonus on September 26, 2025.

LIV Golf is trying to emerge from bankruptcy without the financial muscle of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which has spent upward of $5 billion since the rival league launched in June 2022 and offered nine-figure bonuses to top PGA and European tour players.

BC Partners Credit has pledged up to $300 million to back what is being called “LIV 2.0.” Key to that is players staying with the league, and already a number of top players — Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Adrian Meronk and rising Spaniard David Puig — have separated from LIV agreements or indicated they are leaving.

It’s not unusual for companies going through bankruptcy to compensate top executives to get through the process. Documents show David Phillipps, the chief financial officer, received a $3.37 million retention payment and John Ruzich, the chief legal officer, received $2.6 million, both on June 24. That’s also when O’Neil was paid his $6.375 million.

O’Neil also received a $2.7 million bonus on Feb. 13, two weeks before the start of the Iran war and two months before PIF’s board approved a new investment strategy that led to LIV Golf’s funding ending after the 2026 season.

Payment to players include Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau (nearly $13.9 million), Dustin Johnson ($10.7 million) and Cameron Smith and Bubba Watson, both around $2.5 million.

LIV’s bankruptcy proceeding has a November 5 hearing in the bankruptcy court. BC Partners originally set a Sunday deadline for players to decide if they are on board for LIV 2.0, though that deadline can be extended under an amended restructuring agreement.

The new version is aiming for prize funds of about $9 million — down from $20 million for individual purses — with at least 10 tournaments and a focus on team golf.