LIV Golf shutting down after new financial backer pulls funding from fledging league

BC Partners has walked away from its $300 million rescue plan due to a lack of player commitments

Just over six months after losing its original financial backer, LIV Golf is no longer ... living. Attorneys for the fledgling league confirmed Thursday in New Jersey Bankruptcy Court that the company will be winding down its operations, with the process set to begin on Monday.

"We believe the wind-down path is the best path," Gibson Dunn partner Matthew Williams said in the hearing.

Reports surfaced Wednesday evening that BC Partners, which had previously committed upwards of $300 million to keep LIV Golf afloat with the circuit aiming to reinvent itself in the wake of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, decided to no longer finance the upstart league that once aimed to put the PGA Tour out of business.

While approximately 15 players had expressed interest in "LIV Golf 2.0," BC Partners decided to pull the funding it had originally committed in August, believing there are not enough golfers -- nor enough notable names -- attached to the project to keep the league viable, according to The Athletic and the Financial Times. The capital firm was expecting at least twice as many player commitments.

"BC Partners Credit supported a transaction that aligned the interests of players and investors, offering a credible path toward building a sustainable future for LIV Golf," BC Partners explained in a statement. "While there was great support for the league, we are disappointed that mutually acceptable terms could not be reached among the various stakeholders. We commend LIV Golf's management for their tireless efforts and thank the players who supported the future of LIV and engaged constructively throughout. We wish them every success as they continue their careers."

LIV Golf will now liquidate its assets and shutter the league entirely.

"The debtors were ultimately unable to bring the key parties to a fully consensual arrangement that would have supported a financially viable LIV 2.0 league,"  Williams said. "As a result, the debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan. Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximizing wind down of their business."

The PIF previously invested approximately $7 billion total to start LIV Golf, fund outsized player contracts (some of which reached nine figures) and keep the league running for five seasons. Once the PIF withdrew its funding, the league was forced to cancel two tournaments; it also failed to pay vendors and some of its players. LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, promising to find a new backer and reimagine the league.

Nearly every major LIV Golf player had departed the league before the announcement, including Jon Rahm, who reached a high-profile separation agreement with the circuit, Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia. Brooks Koepka previously took a lifeline by accepting penalties and returning to the PGA Tour ahead of the 2026 season, while Bryson DeChambeau recently stated that he was planning to see LIV Golf's new iteration through. Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann are among other players whose next moves have not yet been announced.

The PGA Tour has been hesitant to open additional pathways for former LIV Golf players to return, though some could regain their playing cards and compete in tournaments through traditional qualifying procedures.