LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil “tried to assuage the fears of his players that everything is OK for 2026” in the email he sent out Wednesday afternoon disputing reports the league’s shutdown was imminent, but there has to be concern about “how viable LIV Golf will be beyond this year,” according to Golf Channel’s Damon Hack. Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch noted a major question to be answered is “how long of a runway does LIV actually have at this point.” O’Neil as late as last week was telling people that LIV Golf was “fully funded through 2032.” Now he is only acknowledging funding is currently present for just four more months. Lynch said, “There is no trajectory beyond that at this point.” Bryson DeChambeau’s contract with LIV expires after this season and he has yet to re-up with the league, and Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner wondered if LIV’s tenure would be “over” if DeChambeau does not re-sign. Hack agreed, saying, “If Bryson DeChambeau is not signed by LIV, there’s no future for that tour.” While O’Neil in his email claimed the published reports about LIV’s demise were incorrect, Lynch said, “We have players and vendors in LIV telling us they have not been paid. The idea that this is some sort of media creation is just kind of farcical” (“Golf Central,” Golf Channel, 4/15).
OTHER NEWS BEING REPORTED: GOLF DIGEST’s Joel Beall cited sources as saying that LIV leadership is “looking for alternative funding for the league but so far is coming up empty” (GOLF DIGEST, 4/15). THE ATHLETIC’s Herzig, Quinn, Miller & Crafton cited sources as saying that members of the leadership team “were first told on Sunday, following the Masters Tournament, that they would soon lose their positions” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/15).
BURNED BRIDGES: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Andrew Beaton wrote the “largest outstanding question” in the event of LIV’s permanent closure will be “what happens to the superstars who joined LIV and find themselves suddenly out of work.” Some “openly badmouthed” the PGA Tour when they left and “tore up their contracts, creating bad blood with those who remained loyal” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/15). In N.Y., Mark Cannizzaro noted though no protocol currently exists, LIV golfers who want to rejoin the PGA Tour likely will “have to go through the same process” Patrick Reed is going through. Reed is serving a one-year suspension and “trying to play his way back to the PGA Tour on other tours.” The PGA Tour’s current stance is that “any LIV player who wants to return must wait one year from his last LIV event played.” However, banning players like DeChambeau and Jon Rahm for an entire year “doesn’t seem good for business” (N.Y. POST, 4/15).
