• Tyrrell Hatton and other big names likely to follow

• Tour filed for bankruptcy after Saudi funding withdrawn

Confirmation that Jon Rahm will play no part in LIV Golf in its post-Saudi Arabian form is likely to be only the start of a mass exodus from the breakaway circuit.

A bankruptcy hearing on Wednesday heard Rahm’s lawyer say “unacceptable” terms proposed by LIV 2.0 mean the Spaniard will shortly walk away from a tour which has lingering hopes of continuing as a going concern. Rahm’s departure from LIV, which he joined in 2023, was inevitable, but still a significant blow and moment in time given his status in his sport.

• PGA commissioner: ‘The Tour is built on meritocracy’

• Rahm and Hatton likely to start back on DP World Tour

The head of the PGA Tour has insisted there will be no favours offered to golfers looking to return to the ­platform after LIV’s bankruptcy filing last week.

The increasing likelihood is players such as Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton will have to play their way back on to the PGA Tour through performances in Europe in 2027 in what would represent a boost to the DP World Tour.

• ‘I would predict that you’ll see some guys leave’

• LIV bankruptcy will invalidate deals with players

Rory McIlroy believes traditional tours will soon have “decisions to make” as a player exodus from LIV Golf edges closer. LIV filing for bankruptcy in the United States on Tuesday means its deals with several high-profile golfers will soon be invalid, leaving them free to negotiate a route back to the PGA and DP World Tours.

When asked whether remaining with LIV in its planned, far-less lucrative form would hold appeal, McIlroy was characteristically candid. “I’m not in their shoes but LIV at the start looked a lot more attractive than what LIV 2.0 might be from a financial standpoint,” said the Masters champion.

• Saudi investors stopped backing LIV this year

• Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith among the creditors

LIV Golf, the breakaway tour that spent billions of dollars luring top players away from the PGA and triggered bitter divisions within the sport, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.

The filing at a New Jersey court indicates LIV, which abruptly lost its deep-pocketed Saudi investors earlier this year, intends to restructure and return in a new form.

• LIV chief refuses to disclose new funders’ identities

• Scott O’Neil hopes DeChambeau and Rahm will stay

LIV Golf has secured a “lead investor” to safeguard its existence until 2030, although the agreement is unlikely to prevent a batch of high-profile players departing by the end of this year.

Scott O’Neil, LIV’s chief executive, announced basic plans for the “next generation” of the tour on Wednesday while refusing to disclose the new funders of the business. After the withdrawal of backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, O’Neil has been engaged in a race against time to save his business.

• Former world No 2 would like golf to ‘go back to old times’ if LIV folds

• ‘I’d hate to see it go away,’ Australian says of rebel tour

Cameron Smith wants LIV Golf to survive but if it doesn’t, he would “100%” return to the PGA Tour.

“I mean, if it was the only option, I think that’s where everyone would want to ⁠be for sure, 100%,” the Australian former world No 2 said ahead of this week’s LIV Golf New York event. “It would go back to old times.”

• McIlroy not a fan of planned two-tier system for events

• Fleetwood and Åberg drawn with world No 2 at US Open

Rory McIlroy believes the “false economy” created by the threat of LIV Golf may now be putting some well-established PGA Tour events at risk. The world No 2 and current Masters champion said he felt people had lost sight of how good the tour was before it too had a huge cash injection.

When the Saudi breakaway started luring away some of the top talent on multimillion-dollar contracts ­during the early years the PGA Tour’s response was to restructure, ­creating eight signature events each with smaller field and prize funds of $20m (£15m), plus generating a number of associated financial benefits.

• Report cites alleged contact with employee

• Club says independent investigation led to action

• Mickelson spokesperson: matter resolved

Phil Mickelson has reportedly had his membership cancelled at a San Diego golf club following alleged “inappropriate contact” with a female employee.

Golf Digest first reported that Mickelson has had his membership terminated at The Farms following an alleged incident before he played there in the spring. The report, citing multiple sources, said the employee accused the 55-year-old of “nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact” towards her before a game of golf. Mickelson is said to have been challenged on the incident mid-round and duly left the property.

• LIV in race against time to survive without PIF funding

• McIlroy: ‘The rug was pulled from under their feet’

Rory McIlroy has revealed he heard rumblings of impending trouble for LIV Golf weeks before Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed it would withdraw funding for the circuit. The Masters champion believes the PIF approach highlights the danger of sport becoming reliant on anything that can be affected by world affairs.

LIV is engaged in a race against time to survive with PIF, which has bestowed more than $5bn (£3.7bn) on the tour, to exit at the end of 2026. News of that, which emerged in the immediate aftermath of McIlroy’s successful defence at Augusta National last month, shocked those within LIV but not the Northern Irishman.

The two-time major champion has mused about life as a full-time streamer. But sport should be more than just a platform to grow an athlete’s brand

Golf: a feeder sport for aspiring YouTubers? When Bryson DeChambeau, faced with the expiry of his LIV Golf contract at the end of this year and the implosion, possibly even sooner, of the now Saudi-less LIV Golf, mused last week that he might give up life on tour to focus on his YouTube channel, most professional golf watchers scoffed. This was just a bluff, a move to gain leverage as DeChambeau, like every other LIV player, contemplates an uncertain future and negotiates the fraught path back to the PGA Tour.

“I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more,” DeChambeau said. “I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I’d love to play tournaments that want me.”

• World No 2 is not against return: ‘Just good business’

• Circuit’s future is uncertain after Saudi withdrawal

• DeChambeau has denied claims of PGA Tour talks

Rory McIlroy is no longer opposed to LIV Golf players returning to the PGA Tour, but he said Friday that “it’s a question of if they do want to come back”.

McIlroy said the answer will probably depend on what happens with LIV’s financial situation in the coming months.

US star is still on rebel tour but the desired focus on teams is not something that is catching on with supporters

Moments before Bryson DeChambeau teed off to open LIV Golf’s first American tournament of the year, at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, the public address announcer bellowed “Long! LIV! Golf!” to try and electrify a modest crowd by the first tee.

The irony wasn’t lost on the devoted group who skirted work and school to enjoy a sunny afternoon just 40 miles outside Washington DC: this was the first tournament since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund confirmed it would no longer fund the outfit that it once imagined as the world’s premier collection of professional golfers. Before that news was finalized, the league postponed a tournament scheduled to take place in New Orleans at the end of June.

• Circuit’s future is uncertain after Saudi withdrawal

• Two-time major champion also criticizes PGA Tour

Bryson DeChambeau insists he would focus on his YouTube channel should LIV Golf not survive.

The future of the Saudi-backed breakaway remains in doubt after the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced plans to withdraw financing at the end of the year, having spent more than $5.4bn on the venture since 2022.

• Spaniard will pay fines for previous event clashes

• Deal includes playing in agreed tournaments this year

Jon Rahm has revealed he has ended his dispute with the DP World Tour, which returns the Spaniard to contention for next year’s Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, but he played down the sense of golfers sharply exiting LIV. Rahm, who has been tipped to make a return to the PGA Tour, has cited tight contractual terms as a reason he and others are not completely in control of their own destiny.

The abrupt exit of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) from LIV – the Saudis will remove finance at the end of this year – has left the tour scrambling for alternative investment. Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are LIV’s biggest names, whom many assumed would already be glancing towards a playing future elsewhere. Rahm urged caution.

• ‘I do believe all of the golfers should be playing’

• Harman says rebels should face consequences

Donald Trump has supported the reintroduction of LIV Golf players on to the PGA Tour after the league announced the withdrawal of funding by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The US president said he would love to see top golfers who defected to the LIV circuit playing regularly against the PGA Tour’s best as uncertainty engulfed the breakaway league after the PIF announcement.

Can LIV find new backers and what are the options for Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Lee Westwood and others?

Confirmation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will cease funding the LIV Golf tour will have huge ramifications, for the future of the tour itself, the players and across golf’s traditional heartlands. Where does PIF’s withdrawal leave them all?

• PIF ends investment after five years and $5bn

• LIV announces new independent board in funding push

LIV Golf’s race to secure at least a watered down future is formally under way after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed it will cease to fund the breakaway circuit at the end of this year. Fears over LIV’s existence are inescapable given the PIF has bestowed in excess of $5bn on the tour since 2021. Tournaments started in the following year; there is a very real chance the 2026 season will prove LIV’s last.

LIV had already confirmed appointment of new board members, aimed with the specific task of raising finance, by the time the PIF stipulated its position on Thursday. “PIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season,” read a statement. “The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy. This decision has been made in light of PIF’s investment priorities and current macro dynamics.

• LIV staring at closure in absence of alternative funds

• Leading names expected to eye return to main tours

LIV Golf executives are poised to confirm to players that Saudi Arabia’s funding of the circuit will cease at the end of 2026, in a move that will begin a scramble between some leading names in the sport to return to traditional tours.

Without an alternative and unlikely funding source from 2027 onwards, LIV in its current form is staring at closure just four years on from staging its first tournament. Nothing has materially changed for LIV in recent weeks yet formal admission of an upcoming Saudi exit will be viewed as a key moment in a disruption story that is heading towards a messy finale.

• Tournament was due to take place from 25-28 June

• Louisiana expects LIV to return incentive funding

The LIV Golf event scheduled to be played in Louisiana in June has been postponed, state officials said on Tuesday.

News of the postponement comes less than two weeks after LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said the breakaway circuit’s 2026 season would proceed as planned amid reports that the series was at risk of losing its funding.

Public Investment Fund withdraws support for rebel tour and other sports could be hit too with Newcastle United uncertain

The reverberations of an unscheduled meeting of LIV Golf executives in New York this week have been felt way beyond their swanky offices in Hudson Yards, on the west side of Manhattan.

A slowdown in Saudi Arabia’s lavish spending on sport, which is conservatively estimated to have cost the kingdom more than $10bn in the past five years, had been expected, but its Public Investment Fund’s withdrawal of financial support for the rebel tour – which was first mooted to LIV execs on Monday – has caused shockwaves throughout the wider industry.