LIV Golf bankruptcy: Rahm tops $45m creditor list as player contracts end

By Jack Shaw · New Jersey, United States · Published: 11:55 BST

• LIV Golf filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the United States on Tuesday, five months after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrew its multibillion-dollar funding.
• Jon Rahm tops the list of 30 largest unsecured claims on $7.5m (£5.5m), with 14 current and former LIV players between them owed just over $45m (£33m).
• Court documents put LIV’s liabilities at $500m to $1bn, and BBC Sport understands players are under no obligation to sign up to the planned player-owned “LIV 2.0” — even those on multi-year deals.

The LIV Golf bankruptcy is now a matter of public record: a Chapter 11 petition filed in a New Jersey court on Tuesday, with more than $45m owed to players and total liabilities estimated at between $500m and $1bn. LIV says the filing is intended to “preserve the company’s business” while it restructures. In practice, it also tears up the contracts that kept golf’s biggest defectors in place.

What the LIV Golf bankruptcy filing actually says

The petition lists LIV’s assets at $100m–$500m against liabilities of $500m–$1bn, and the Guardian reports at least 1,000 creditors. Among the 30 largest unsecured claims, Rahm’s $7.5m leads Bryson DeChambeau ($5.7m), Dustin Johnson ($5.5m), Cameron Smith ($4.8m) and Tyrrell Hatton ($3.4m). Brooks Koepka, who left to rejoin the PGA Tour in January, is still owed $1.7m. A source familiar with the figures told BBC Sport those sums cover the unpaid third quarter of 2026 rather than the full amounts.

Chief executive Scott O’Neil, whose organisation laid off the majority of its staff this month, said: “This process gives us the structure and time to pursue a landmark transaction and begin the next chapter of LIV Golf.” The league has named BC Partners as a new investor and intends to launch a majority player-owned circuit early next year, on a shorter schedule with reduced prize money. No 2027 schedule or individual events have been confirmed. LIV is also seeking recognition of the filing in England and Wales to cover its international operations. For the full chronology of LIV’s collapse, follow the running coverage at Read Golf.

The expert angle: this is the moment the contracts stopped mattering

Forget the headline numbers for a second — the consequential line in Tuesday’s filing is the one about obligation. BBC Sport understands there is no requirement for any player to join LIV 2.0 regardless of whether they had previously signed multi-year deals, because contracts under the old iteration finish as a result of the court process, with money owed handled through the courts instead.

That inverts the entire logic of the last four years. LIV’s whole model was the guaranteed, litigation-proof contract — huge money up front, signed before a shot was struck. Chapter 11 converts those deals into unsecured claims in a queue. Rahm, DeChambeau, Johnson, Smith and Hatton are no longer contracted stars; they are creditors, and every one of them now faces the same choice: back an unproven player-owned league, or walk and pursue what they are owed through the court process. What remains unclear, per BBC Sport, is when they would be free to open discussions with other tours — and that timing, more than the money, is what decides how the 2027 season looks.

PIF spent an estimated $5bn to fracture professional golf. It has ended with some of the sport’s best-paid players filing claims to get paid at all. Does golf owe LIV’s rebels any sympathy — or is this simply the bill arriving? For more from the top of the game, read our Tour Championship coverage from East Lake.