LIV has officially canceled its season-ending team championship event and will bring a tumultuous season to an end this weekend at LIV Golf Indianapolis, the league announced Monday.
This confirms what was first reported last week by The Telegraph. The circuit’s 13 teams had been scheduled to compete for a $40 million prize pool on Aug. 27-30 at The Cardinal at Saint John’s in Plymouth, Mich.
LIV will now crown the individual season champion, the team season champions and Indianapolis champion Aug. 20-23 at the Club at Chatham Hills in Westfield, Ind.
It’s the second tournament canceled since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced that it would not continue backing LIV Golf after this season. A $30 million tournament in New Orleans, scheduled for June 25-28, was also scrapped.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil announced last week that the league had reached a deal with a “lead investor” to sustain operations into next season. O’Neil said this cancellation will allow LIV to begin building towards that future, which is reportedly a funding deal with private investment firm BC Partners.
“By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes next and maintain the operational rigor this transition demands,” O’Neil said in the press release announcing the news. “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. Professional golf is more unified today than at any point since we launched, creating a genuine opportunity to grow the game together. Indianapolis will be a fitting finale for the League as fans have known it and the starting point for what we believe it can become.
“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. The road ahead is possible because of the people who stand behind this League – our fans, players, caddies, employees, partners and sponsors.”
As the Saudi funding ceased over the last few months, LIV reportedly owes back pay to multiple contractors in video production, data collection, merchandising, and food and beverage operations, according to a report by Front Office Sports.
LIV reportedly owes between several thousand dollars and nearly $100,000 to multiple vendors. LIV is currently being sued by one of these vendors, Mobil Systems Group Limited, which is seeking more than $1.1 million for breach of contract, unpaid invoices and interest after creating LIV’s “Any Shot, Any Time” technology.
While Jon Rahm of Spain has already clinched his third consecutive LIV individual championship, the team title is very much up for grabs at this week’s event.
Captain Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC currently leads the LIV Golf team standings with 149.50 points, followed by Ripper GC (147.25) and defending champion Legion XIII (145.00).
–Field Level Media
