DeChambeau says no regrets as LIV Golf winds down

Bryson DeChambeau says he has no regrets about leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, in his first public comments since the Saudi-backed league told a U.S. bankruptcy court last week it will shut down.

“I’m not going to rewrite the last four years,” the two-time major champion wrote on social media on Sunday, ESPN reported. “I made a decision I believed in, and I’m grateful for what came with it: playing in front of fans new and old around the world who rarely got to see the best players at home.”

DeChambeau also struck a more humble note. “Arnold Palmer said no player is bigger than the game, and I want to acknowledge that along the way, I’ve said some things that didn’t help,” he wrote. “Whatever comes next, I’ll approach it with humility and respect for the people who carried this game long before me.”

A lawyer for LIV told a bankruptcy court in New Jersey on Thursday, Nov. 5, that the league would wind down instead of reorganizing. “We believe the wind-down path is the best path,” attorney Matthew Williams said, Golf Channel reported. The plan still needs approval; LIV and its creditors’ committee are due to meet Nov. 20, with another hearing set for Nov. 24.

The league filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 8, after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund said in April it would stop funding LIV after the 2026 season. A planned US$300-million investment from BC Partners for a slimmed-down “LIV 2.0” depended on a critical mass of players signing on, and fell apart when talks with about 10 players stalled, according to the Financial Times. The fund spent more than US$5 billion on LIV after its 2022 launch, The Associated Press reported.

DeChambeau gave no hint of his plans beyond saying he is scheduled to play the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Johannesburg on Dec. 3 to 6, where he won his fifth and final LIV event. He has until Nov. 15 to take up membership on the DP World Tour, ESPN reported. A return to the PGA Tour may be more complicated: the tour bans LIV players for one year after their last LIV start, and DeChambeau was among the players who sued the tour in an antitrust case.

Jon Rahm has already moved on. The bankruptcy court approved the end of his LIV contract, and the Spaniard won the Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday, his first European tour title in four years, moving back into the world’s top 10. Rahm has said he has not spoken to the PGA Tour about a path back and is planning a European schedule for 2027.

Sources: ESPN, Golf Channel, The Associated Press, CBS News.