LIV Golf Ends Season Early, Cancels Michigan Team Event

LIV Golf is ending its season one week earlier than planned, announcing Monday that it will not hold the team championship in Michigan next week and will instead crown the team champion this week at an event 20 miles north of Indianapolis.

The 12 events held this year — after New Orleans was postponed — mark the smallest schedule since LIV launched with massive Saudi Arabian funding in 2022, when it featured eight tournaments.

Jon Rahm has already clinched the individual season title for the third straight year. LIV Golf Indianapolis, which starts Thursday at The Club at Chatham Hills, will determine who finishes second and third individually, as well as the top team.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which has bankrolled the league since its inception, decided in March that this would be the final year of its funding. LIV Golf announced earlier this month that it has an agreement with a lead investor to sustain a new version of the league starting in 2027.

"By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes next and maintain the operational rigor this transition demands," LIV CEO Scott O'Neil said in a statement, adding the league is being "reimagined" as one owned by the players.

The cancellation of the Michigan event was not a surprise; there had been reports that preparations, including grandstands, had not begun. LIV Golf said ticket holders would be refunded. The league also canceled scheduled performances by Thomas Rhett and Disco Lines at the Indianapolis event, citing cost-cutting.

The Indianapolis finale carries a $20 million purse, with $4 million to the individual winner, though it could mark the end of such payouts. Rahm earned $6 million for the points title this year, down from $18 million in each of the previous two years.

The format and rosters for the 2027 season remain undetermined, and it is unclear whether stars like Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau will remain with the league under an equity-based ownership model O'Neil has described as a "second bite at the apple."

At the final event, Joaquin Niemann, Lucas Herbert and Tyrrell Hatton are competing for third place and a $1 million bonus, while DeChambeau holds a comfortable lead for second and $3 million. In the team race, Dustin Johnson's 4Aces hold a narrow lead over Ripper, with Legion XIII and the Crushers also in contention.