LIV Golf has announced the cancellation of its Michigan team championship event, with the season ending early as the team title will now be decided at LIV Golf Indianapolis this week
LIV Golf has announced it is bringing its season to a close a week ahead of schedule, confirming on Monday that the planned team championship in Michigan will not go ahead. Instead, the team title will be decided this week at a venue 20 miles north of Indianapolis.
This year’s 12-event schedule – reduced after New Orleans was previously postponed – represents the smallest calendar LIV Golf has seen since its launch in 2022, backed by substantial Saudi Arabian funding, when it featured just eight tournaments.
Jon Rahm has already secured the individual season title for the third consecutive year. LIV Golf Indianapolis, which gets under way on Thursday at The Club at Chatham Hills, will determine the second and third-placed players, as well as the top team.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which has been the financial backbone of the rival league from its inception, decided in March that this would be its final year of funding. Earlier this month, LIV Golf announced it had reached an agreement with a lead investor to sustain a new version of the league from 2027.
LIV CEO Scott O’Neil said in a statement: “By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes next and maintain the operational rigor this transition demands,”.
He added: “We are reimagining LIV Golf as a fundamentally new league owned by the players and anchored in a sustainable business model, with an evolved fan experience built for the markets where the game is growing fastest across the globe and the support of world-class partners.”
The scrapping of LIV Golf Michigan came as little surprise. Reports had been circulating in recent weeks that the tournament had not even begun preparations for grandstands and other facilities.
LIV Golf confirmed that ticket holders would receive full refunds.
In a further belt-tightening measure, which LIV attributed to “unavoidable changes in the entertainment program,” the league informed Thomas Rhett and Disco Lines that their live performances would no longer be going ahead at LIV Golf Indianapolis.
The final event, boasting a $20 million purse that pays out $4 million to the winner, could represent the last significant payday for LIV and its 57 players. LIV declined to name the lead investor, disclose the size of the cash injection, or clarify whether it constituted an investment or a loan.
O’Neil has indicated that the LIV 2.0 version, planned for 2027 and beyond, would see players become equity owners. He described it as a “second bite at the apple” – equity rather than cash.
However, this likely signals the end of $20 million purses for individual events, with cutbacks already under way. Rahm earned $6 million for clinching the points title, a stark drop from the $18 million paid out in each of the previous two years.
“As we concentrate on finishing the season strong and building the next chapter of LIV Golf, we’ll carry the energy and enthusiasm our fans have shown us into what comes next,” O’Neil said.
The structure for the 2027 campaign and the squad compositions also remain up in the air. What’s yet to be decided is whether Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau – the two most prominent figures – along with other players who signed up to the league for its eye-watering prize purses will fancy sticking around for LIV 2.0.
Regarding the concluding tournament, Joaquin Niemann, Lucas Herbert and Tyrrell Hatton are battling it out for third spot, which comes with a $1 million bonus. DeChambeau sits comfortably in second, earning $3 million.
Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces outfit holds a slender advantage over Australia-based Ripper, while Rahm’s Legion XIII, which includes Belfast golfer Tom McKibbin, and Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers squad are all vying for the team championship.
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