LIV Golf’s high-profile stars are ready to gather greater than £30million in unpaid cash from the Saudi-backed insurgent league after it filed for chapter on Tuesday.
A ‘Chapter 11’ petition was lodged in New Jersey final evening, with the breakaway league locked in a battle for survival ever since its Saudi Arabian backers introduced in April that they had been pulling the plug.
Though the newest improvement had been extensively anticipated, it marks a big milestone in LIV’s dramatic downfall, coming 4 years after its arrival triggered an unpleasant civil warfare within the sport.
The ‘Chapter 11’ petition additionally revealed the staggering sums owed to LIV’s golfers, who’re listed among the many league’s unsecured collectors.
Jon Rahm tops the checklist with an enormous $7.5million (£5.5m) excellent, adopted by Bryson DeChambeau, who’s owed $5.8m (£4.3m).
Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Adrian Meronk are owed $5.5m (£4.1m), $4.8m (£3.5m) and $4.4m (£3.2m) respectively, whereas English golfer Tyrrell Hatton has $3.4m (£2.5m) in unsecured claims.
LIV Golf’s high-profile stars are ready to gather greater than £30million in unpaid cash – Jon Rahm, pictured, tops the checklist with an enormous $7.5million (£5.5m) excellent in unsecured claims
The sums detailed within the petition check with cash already owed to the golfers as of the date of the submitting, moderately than the total worth of their respective LIV contracts.
Rahm’s mammoth LIV contract was agreed at a reported $350m (£258m), which suggests the £5.5m at present excellent represents solely a fraction of the large deal he signed to hitch the breakaway league.
Whereas chapter would possibly enable the circuit to understand its acknowledged ambition of a LIV 2.0, it stays to be seen if their forthcoming union with BC Companions, a non-public fairness group, can be adequate for the league to increase right into a 2027 season.
The best unknown at this stage is which of their marquee gamers will stick with the mission in a vastly diminished and fewer profitable type, as it’s understood that chapter will enable the golfers to exit their contracts, even when they’ve time nonetheless to run.
Any LIV golfers seeking to return to the PGA Tour may face a contemporary battle for reinstatement, with the American circuit having already imposed important monetary penalties on gamers who defected to its Saudi-backed rival.
Earlier this yr, Rahm appeared to hedge his bets by making peace with the PGA Tour, agreeing to return for infrequent appearances and pay the fines he had accrued since becoming a member of LIV in 2024.
Bryson DeChambeau, whose LIV deal expired on the finish of the 2026 season, is owed £4.3m
Yasir Al Rumayyan (Governor of PIF, Chairman of Aramco) congratulates successful participant, Elvis Smylie (Ripper GC) on day 4 of LIV Golf in Riyadh LIV Golf Riyad again in February
‘The DP World Tour (PGA European Tour) and Jon Rahm have come to an settlement on conditional releases to play in conflicting tournaments on LIV Golf in the course of the the rest of its 2026 season,’ a spokesperson from the league mentioned. In the meantime, Rahm revealed there was ‘now not a standoff’ and that concessions had been made by each events.
DeChambeau‘s deal expired on the finish of the 2026 season however he’s anticipated to recommit in return for fairness within the league. The image round Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton is way extra regarding to LIV insiders – each males are contracted by means of 2028 and Each day Mail Sport sources had indicated previous to chapter that each males had been more likely to depart within the occasion of the petition being filed.
Rahm, for one, hinted on the chance earlier on Tuesday, when requested on the DP World Tour’s Irish Open if he wish to see a pathway again to the PGA Tour. He mentioned: ‘I nonetheless have a contract with LIV 1.0 that I’m greater than keen to fulfil, so like I mentioned time will inform.’
The selection of phrase – ‘LIV 1.0’ – would recommend his loyalty was contingent on his present phrases being honoured with a view to proceed with LIV.
