Greg Norman received $9.4 million LIV Golf payout before leaving

Greg Norman received more than $9.4 million when he left LIV Golf in September 2025, one of several multimillion-dollar payments to top executives over the last 18 months. New court records offer a deeper look at where LIV's money was going.

Norman, LIV Golf's former commissioner and CEO, received a settlement of about $5.8 million and a $3.6 million bonus when he departed the league.

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His successor, Scott O'Neil, also has done well, including a massive bonus in the months before the breakaway league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

LIV Golf's statement of financial affairs, filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey, showed O'Neil received a $6.375 million retention bonus on June 24, less than three months before LIV filed for bankruptcy. That came after another bonus of about $2.7 million on Feb. 13.

From Sept. 12, 2025, through Aug. 28, O'Neil received more than $13.6 million in payroll, bonuses, benefits, retention payments and expense reimbursements, according to the court records.

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More: LIV Golf tracker: Who's staying, who's leaving? See the latest as deadline approaches

LIV paid about $15.6 million in retention payments to top executives. Chief financial officer David Phillips received more than $3.3 million, while chief legal officer John Ruzich received about $2.6 million.

Those numbers have surfaced as LIV tries to determine whether it has a future at all.

LIV Golf and its related entities voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection Sept. 8, listing between $100 million and $500 million in assets and $500 million to $1 billion in liabilities.

The league has since been laying the groundwork for LIV 2.0, a reworked version of the circuit that could be backed by London-based private-equity firm BC Partners.

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U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael B. Kaplan permitted LIV to enter into a restructuring plan with BC Partners that could provide as much as $300 million in financing, including an initial $4 million loan to help keep the league operating during the Chapter 11 process.

BC Partners announced earlier this month that it had made its initial financial commitment, but the larger investment comes with conditions. Among them is LIV retaining a certain percentage of its players.

That has become one of the biggest questions hanging over LIV 2.0.

BC Partners initially gave LIV until Oct. 13 to secure player commitments before pushing the deadline to Oct. 25. Under the proposed LIV 2.0 structure, majority ownership eventually would be transferred to players through equity shares, giving them an ownership stake in the league.

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Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator of the USA Today Network.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Greg Norman received $9.4 million LIV Golf payout before leaving