BEDMINSTER, N.J. — It’s fitting that the setting for LIV’s latest players’ meeting was at President Trump’s club here in New Jersey’s rolling horse country, because the convene had all the secrecy of a sealed-door session in the White House Situation Room.
Just before 2 p.m. local time, Bryson DeChambeau, the league’s runaway Most Valuable Player (at least in terms of clicks and impressions) and de facto tribal leader, strolled off the 9th green after a practice round with Bubba Watson and politely declined a reporter’s interview request, citing another imminent engagement.
“Big meeting” DeChambeau said.
The gathering — the first part of it, anyway — was scheduled for 2 o’clock in the clubhouse, with most of LIV’s 14 team captains set to discuss one of the professional game’s most pressing questions: Will LIV Golf survive and, if so, how? Those aren’t new questions, of course. The league’s uncertain future has been a source of speculation since its Saudi backers, the Public Investment Fund, announced in late April that they would cease funding the league after the conclusion of the 2026 season.
But the matter has taken on more urgency in recent days with several news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, reporting that the league is on the verge of canceling its season-ending, $40-million team championship, slated for Aug. 27-30 in Michigan. “We’ve been told to prepare as though it’s going ahead,” Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith said in a press conference Tuesday morning. “So we’re expecting it to happen. I’m really unsure, but we had a great year there last year in Detroit, and we’re hoping we get back there.”
LIV Golf has made no public comments on the reported nix, nor has its CEO, Scott O’Neil, who has spent nearly all of his waking hours in the last three months seeking a lifeline for his league — and there are signs that he may have found at least a flicker of hope. According to the New York Post, LIV has commitments from a team of anchor investors that would form a “financing syndicate” with enough cash to support a reimagined version of LIV. The league has not commented on the Post report, nor would you expect it to given it’s in the throes of negotiations.
The captains-only meeting at Bedminster lasted about 40 minutes. When it wrapped, the skippers, accompanied by O’Neil, filed out of the clubhouse and made the short walk to a smaller brick-and-glass building that houses the locker room. That’s where most of LIV’s other players were awaiting them, presumably aching for any new information about the status of their league. About 15 minutes after this second meeting began, O’Neil stepped out. He appeared at the building’s second-floor exit and descended a flight of stairs where a cluster of reporters had gathered, eager to pepper him with questions. O’Neil, a LIV media-relations staffer close by his side, declined to oblige them. Any color from the meeting would need to come from the players.
As the minutes ticked by, the intrigue outside grew, as if a papal conclave was in session. Caddies killed time rolling putts on the practice green; LIV general managers sought shade under trees; and a fleet of black Suburbans lined the parking lot, ready to shuttle the players to their Marriott.
Finally, around 3:45 p.m., a couple of familiar faces appeared at the top of the staircase. Then a couple more. And a couple more. Most, though, had little interest in talking. Joaquin Niemann and Lee Westwood both said they needed to practice; Lucas Herbert was a pass, though he did crack a light-hearted joke about the prospect of starting his own tour; Anthony Kim also was tight-lipped, as were Graeme McDowell, Thomas Pieters and Bubba Watson. Bryson, too. Paul Casey stopped to chat but not about the meeting — more so to share tales from the 1999 Walker Cup, where he and Luke Donald helped Great Britain and Ireland to victory.
And so it went, though not entirely.
Richard Bland, one of LIV’s elder statesmen at 53, spilled some tea, if only a leaf or two. Blandy said that DeChambeau effectively chaired the meeting and “ran through what he knows.” Bland continued: “Obviously, we’re trying to do it as a group, but we’re individuals as well. We’re in this together; we’re fully backing Scott. I think probably in the next two to three weeks, we’ll have a bigger picture.”
He added, “We’re just in that kind of stage at the minute that we’re positive with what’s going on, but we just need everything to be fully signed off so you can go forward.”
Bland said he had no new information about the status of the team event, saying, “We’ve just got to wait and see on that.”
Abraham Ancer, who plays for Torque GC, also described the meeting as “positive,” telling GOLF.com that the players spent the time “going through the business plan and all that for next year. Other than that, I can’t really say anything.”
Asked whether he felt like LIV leadership has been providing the players with enough information, he said, “I think they’re giving us as much as they can.” He also said that he has no concerns about the league not honoring his contact. “I can only speak for myself,” he said, “but everything has been okay with me. I have nothing really bad to say.”
The always-colorful Byeong Hun An described the meeting to reporters as “fun,” adding, “No one’s throwing fists or anything.” He added, “I can’t really discuss anything here, but it was good.”
Read into those collective comments what you will. Something sounds like it could be brewing. But also . . . who’s to say? If we’ve learned anything about LIV, its most predictable element has been its unpredictability. O’Neil is scheduled to address the media at 10 a.m. Wednesday. We’ll learn more then. It’s just hard to know how much more.
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