The big news last week was the presence of President Donald Trump and Yasir Al Rumayyan, Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), at the final round of LIV Golf New York.
It was significant because it was the first LIV event attended by Al Rumayyan since February this year. Thereafter, we have all heard how PIF decided to pull out its funding of the League.
New York, or rather Trump Bedminster on the outskirts of the Big Apple, was also the place earlier in the week where LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil announced that they had found an investor. As per Bloomberg, it is the credit arm of BC Partners, which, along with a group of investors, have signed their intent to the tune of $300 million. Ted Goldthorpe, head of BC Partners Credit, was also at the tournament on Sunday.
O’Neill had earlier indicated that LIV Golf will need funding of nearly $350 million to plan the 2027 schedule.
Since the news of PIF’s departure in April, there have been various developments, and the reports have continued to hurt LIV. The latest one is that the League will file for bankruptcy and fire the majority of its staff ahead of restructuring for the new season.
Hopefully, that won’t be the case. It is now being said that the PIF has agreed to pay the remaining amounts of players’ contract money. There is also the likelihood that some of the PIF companies, like Riyadh Air, will continue to be a part of the League.
Meanwhile, the 2026 Team Championship is still listed on the LIV Golf website, but those who have visited The Cardinal at Saint John’s in Michigan, have reported that there hasn’t been any infrastructure built as yet. With the tournament listed for an August 27 start, it seemed very unlikely that we would have the $40 million season finale.
As O’Neill outlined, the 2027 season will have 10 tournaments – five in the United States, and five across the globe. Given the success of Australia and South Africa, those two seem very likely. The other two events that can get on to the schedule are Valderrama, Spain (Jon Rahm/Sergio Garcia connection), and South Korea. That leaves one global event, which is likely to be England (so that it is held close to the Open Championship dates).
Among the several question marks that face the League for 2027, the most critical one is how many players it can retain. Players are obviously thinking of their future and what happened this year does not inspire confidence.
It will be important that before the season ends, LIV is able to announce that Bryson DeChambeau and Rahm are staying. They are the two biggest stars and the departure of any one of them will make other players rethink of their positions.
The other thing that will be crucial is that LIV finds a partner like the Asian Tour. Theirs was a very important role in the functioning of the League. It provided extra playing opportunity for LIV members, and a fallback option for those who were relegated.
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Lahiri continues to play his part
Another week and another massive contribution by our very own Anirban Lahiri as his Crusnhers GC team won yet another team championship against all odds.
Lahiri wasn’t the best-placed Crushers star, but as he has done so often in the past, the Indian made an impact. In finishing tied 17th, he made a birdie on his closing hole, the par-5 15th hole, on Sunday, even as a majority of the field dropped shots on a demanding Trump Bedminster layout.
While DeChambeau and Charles Howell III dropped a shot on their last hole, and Paul Casey unable to add any birdies over the closing stretch in his fantastic three-under par round, Lahiri’s birdie lifted his team to a two-shot win over Legion XIII and Torque GC, at +6.
Rahm’s Legion XIII seemed set for another team championship, but the Captain himself made a bogey on his final hole, the par-3 16th, while the solid Caleb Surratt doubled his final hole, the par-4 third.
PGA TOUR:
Tournament: Wyndham Championship
Winner: Michael Brennan (USA)
Winning scores: 66-65-63-64 (22-under)
Prize purse/winning cheque: $8.8 million/$1.53 million
Indian scores: No Indian in the field
Next event: FedEx St Jude Championship
LPGA:
Tournament: No event last week
Next event: The Standard Portland Classic
LIV GOLF:
Tournament: LIV Golf New York
Individual winner: Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC/CHI)
Winning scores: 64-65-70-69 (16-under)
Prize purse/winning cheque: $20 million/$4 million
Indian scores: Anirban Lahiri T17th (74-67-73-70)
Team champions: Crushers GC (DeChambeau/Lahiri/Casey/Howell III)
Winning scores: +11-7+3-1 (6-over)
Prize purse/winning cheque: $10 million/$3 million
Next event: LIV Golf Indianapolis
DP WORLD TOUR:
Tournament: No event this week
Next event: Yeangder Taiwan Open
ASIAN TOUR:
Tournament: No event this week
Next event: Yeangder Taiwan Open
KORN FERRY TOUR:
Tournament: Pinnacle Bank Championship
Winner: Frankie Harris (USA) beating Alistair Docherty (USA) in a playoff
Winning scores: 68-66-69-59 (22-under)
Prize purse/winning cheque: US$1 million/US$180,000
Indian scores: Rayhan Thomas T71 (68-71-72-72)
Next event: Pinnacle Bank Championship
HOTELPLANNER TOUR:
Tournament: Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A
Winner: Christofer Blomstrand (SWE)
Winning scores: 66-61-70-68 (19-under)
Prize purse/winning cheque: EUR300,000/EUR48,000
Indian scores: No Indian in the field
Next event: Irish Challenge
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR:
Tournament: PIF London Championship
Winner: Anna Huang (CAN)
Winning scores: 67-68-65-70 (22-under)
Prize purse/winning cheque: US$2 million/US$300,000
Indian scores: Aditi Ashok T17th (71-73-73-69); Pranavi Urs T19th (71-72-78-66); Diksha Dagar T46th (75-70-72-78); Avani Prashanth MC (79-71)
Next event: VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT TOUR:
Tournament: No event last week
Next event: The Indonesian Pro-Am presented by Combiphar & Nomura
PGTI TOUR:
Tournament: J&K Open
Winner: Khalin Joshi
Winning scores: 63-66-65-66 (24-under)
Prize purse/winning cheque: INR 1 crore/INR 15 lakh
Leading scores: Rashid Khan 2nd (68-68-64-69); Shubham Jaglan 3rd (70-68-66-66); Ajeetesh Sandhu 4th (65-72-65-70); Rahil Gangjee T5th (73-67-66-69); Angad Cheema T5th (68-68-68-71); Saptak Talwar T5th (69-71-65-70); Kshitij Naveed Kaul 8th (70-69-66-71); Stepan Danek (CZE) T9th (68-69-70-70); Divyanshu Bajaj T9th (68-71-73-65); Shaurya Bhattacharya T9th (69-70-70-68)
Next event: Coal India Open
Written and edited by Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf). Produced by Shad Hasnain.
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