Martin Ross

LIV Golf players were told about the chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by a long message from CEO Scott O’Neil on a player group chat. Notably, Jon Rahm left that group chat on August 9th, before the final event was played. He is the only player to have done so apart from Danny Lee, who left after he was released by Korean GC months ago. Multiple players have confirmed that the figures owed in the chapter 11 filing correspond to quarterly “Player Participation Agreements” which were due to be paid in October, and are not the full value of their contracts. The most important part of the lengthy message from CEO Scott O’Neil is about these existing player contracts and it reads: “As part of this process, we will address the legacy contractual obligations of LIV Golf 1.0, including seeking court approval to reject existing player agreements. Our lawyers will be in court this week, and we will keep you updated as to when there is a decision from the Court. I want to emphasize that this is a procedural step and will move in parallel with your ongoing LIV Golf 1.0 negotiations.” I am yet to speak to a player who is committed to LIV Golf 2.0, but the rumour is the league are targeting a season opener in Mexico in February. Personally, from extensive sourcing, I think they will seriously struggle to fill the proposed field of 75 players. Multiple existing players have told me they are finished with the league.