The next few weeks will decide much of LIV Golf’s future, as milestone dates for its deal with BC Partners are approaching. But recent filings open a window into how tense and tricky filing for bankruptcy can be.
Take the case of Kooyonga Golf Club, scheduled to host LIV Golf in Adelaide, Australia, in March 2027. As part of LIV’s longstanding success Down Under, Kooyonga was announced as a future LIV host (for March 18-21, 2027) nearly one year ago (Oct. 5, 2025).
The term sheet between LIV and its future host was signed a full six months before Saudi Arabia formally announced its latest financial strategy, part of which called for an end to funding LIV Golf. In other words, Kooyonga signed a deal that suddenly felt a lot less stable than it did on signing day.
It was around that time, spring of this year, that LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil and his organization decided they would push forward and try to sustain the rival golf league despite bank accounts that would soon crater. Kooyonga was part of that plan, but its contract stipulated that 50% of its hosting fee would be paid by LIV by the beginning of July.
Ultimately, according to the bankruptcy filing, Kooyonga was treated like many other recent LIV vendors: It was not paid. LIV requested a payment extension, according to Kooyonga’s general manager, Brett Lewis, and filed for bankruptcy just days before payment was due.
There is a long list of entities owed money by LIV Golf, but Kooyonga is unique. It is both part of LIV 1.0 and, important to all parties, among the first courses booked for LIV 2.0, so long as LIV doesn’t nix its contract.
Which brings us to the present day. As venue host, Kooyonga is arguing it needs to know if its contract will be maintained or rejected so that it can either cease course prep or continue on the journey to hosting the league. According to filings, Kooyonga has blocked off parts of the first four months of 2027 to accommodate its hosting duties, time that could be gifted back to the club if LIV rejects its contract. The potential damages only for the next month of continued work, Kooyonga argues, would be around $70,000. Naturally, the club wants some clarity.
But as we are learning, a cascade of decisions that don’t involve Kooyonga must take place first. To reach a formal, finalized agreement with BC Partners, LIV Golf needs to earn commitments from a requisite number and rank of players for LIV 2.0 by Oct. 13. Some of its biggest targets have been vague on their interest.
Just a couple weeks ago, for example, Jon Rahm was asked about his options, the contract he signed with LIV in the first place and what might happen to it.
“There’s a long legal process [LIV has] to go through before a lot of things fall into place,” Rahm said. “I really can’t give you an answer right now.”
When pressed on whether he would honor his contract and commit to LIV 2.0, Rahm said, “I said what I said.”
Elsewhere, in France, LIV star Cameron Smith told Evin Priest: “We’re in a bit of a limbo [as players]” and that “It’s hard to make a decision when you don’t have at least some of the answers to make the right decision, or any decision. We need a few more answers.”
LIV responded to Kooyonga’s motion for payment — as it spends much in advance of the event it may or may not host in March — by asking the bankruptcy judge to be patient as the league first settles its other orders of business, and to rule during a hearing on Nov 5.
Kooyonga requested that the judge make a snappier judgement and rule on its status on Oct. 7. Judge Michael Kaplan elected for a ruling in the middle, finding Oct. 22 a suitable date.
As such, the list of decisions LIV needs to make and commitments it needs to earn in the next few weeks keeps getting longer.
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