LIV Golf is one-and-done in Michigan.
In news that has been widely speculated about for few weeks, LIV Golf’s television host said on Sunday’s broadcast that its season-ending team championship tournament scheduled to be played at The Cardinal in Plymouth Township later this month won’t be happening.
LIV Golf was set to end its season at Saint John’s Resort for a second straight year, but the team championship now will instead be staged a week earlier, next week in Indianapolis, LIV Golf TV host Craig Doyle said on Sunday’s TNT broadcast following the final round of LIV Golf’s tournament in New Jersey.
“That is going to be, at this stage, I think we can call it, is going to be the final event in LIV Golf 2026,” Doyle said on Sunday’s broadcast, speaking of the Indianapolis tournament set for Aug. 20-23.
The news is not at all unexpected, as LIV Golf has been in crisis mode for months trying to secure funding for the future after its chief backer, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, cut off the cash.
The team championship at The Cardinal was to have a staggering prize pool of $40 million. Instead, The Cardinal hasn’t had any infrastructure buildout with the tournament scheduled to be played Aug. 27-30.
Last year’s team championship at The Cardinal — the first marquee tournament held at the new championship course, which was designed by west Michigan’s Ray Hearn and opened to rave reviews in 2024 — had a $50 million purse, with Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII splitting the $14 million first prize after beating Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC in a sudden-death playoff that was a thrilling end to a week that had felt more about the music and the booze for fans.
The 2025 team championship drew tens of thousands of fans to The Cardinal, curious to see the LIV Golf experience, which as promised was different — and loud, with pre-round pyrotechnics and post-round concerts. So well-received was the event by fans (diehards and casual fans alike), LIV Golf announced in December it would return to Saint John’s for the 2026 finale, too, but in recent months, the rival golf tour’s future has been in serious doubt.
LIV Golf burst onto the golf scene in 2022 as a major disruptor to the sport, poaching star players from the PGA Tour, some with nine-figure paydays. But financial losses have reportedly run into the billions of dollars, and player acquisition had stalled — with Brooks Koepka actually leaving LIV Golf to return to the PGA Tour, and Patrick Reed intending to do so, as well. Then there’s the ongoing Phil Mickelson saga.
Earlier this year, PIF finally decided that enough was enough.
That left LIV Golf, led by CEO Scott O’Neil, scrambling to secure more than $300 million in new investments to keep the tour afloat through this year and into next year. O’Neil announced last week it had landed a new lead investor, but the identity of the investor wasn’t announced as the deal isn’t yet final. It’s believed the investor’s deal could hinge on whether Rahm and DeChambeau are on board for the future, perhaps for equity to LIV 2.0 in lieu of more upfront cash.
LIV Golf earlier this year canceled a tournament in New Orleans.
There have been damning signs for weeks that the Michigan tournament was in trouble, including the lack of buildout on the grounds at Saint John’s. No structures have been built — no grandstands, no suites, no player walking bridge across the signature pond, no nothing.
Last month, Martin Kaymer said publicly the Michigan tournament was “highly unlikely” to happen. During a press conference announcing the new investor last week, O’Neil still didn’t commit to Michigan.
The team championship at The Cardinal had been scheduled to be played the same weekend as the PGA Tour Champions’ Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc. Officials in Grand Blanc were none too pleased to go up against LIV Golf on the same weekend for a second straight year, and now it seems they won’t have to. Sunday’s LIV Golf announcement comes a week after the PGA Tour’s Rocket Classic was played at Detroit Golf Club for the eighth and final time. The Ally Challenge hasn’t yet reached an extension beyond 2026. Only the state’s two very popular LPGA tournaments, in Grand Rapids and Midland, are under contract beyond 2026.
As of Sunday evening, tickets to the team championship in Michigan still were being sold on LIV Golf’s website, though the TV schedule for the team championship in Michigan no longer was listed on the website.
Officials from Saint John’s Resort, which is believed to have paid a $3 million hosting fee to LIV Golf in 2025 with the price going up significantly for 2026, have repeatedly declined comment on the status of the tournament, deferring questions to LIV Golf officials. LIV Golf had no official comment as of Sunday night.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: LIV Golf scraps team championship in Plymouth: League’s TV host
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tony Paul, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
