LIV Golf expected to cancel season-ending Team Championship in Michigan
LIV Golf is set to cancel the season-ending Team Championship scheduled in Michigan later this month, BBC Sport has been told. Tickets for the event cannot be purchased online and LIV's official website lists both ground passes and hospitality passes as "no longer available".
Sources say next week's tournament in Indiana increasingly looks likely to be the final event of the 2026 campaign, although LIV has yet to make an official announcement. There have also been reports that Jon Rahm could soon leave the league. In July, Martin Kaymer said he felt it was "highly likely" the Team Championship would be cancelled, while last week Cameron Smith said he still expected the event to proceed and that players "would be disappointed if it wasn't".
Last week the series said it had secured an unnamed lead investor intended to keep the competition running in 2027 after the withdrawal of Saudi Arabian financial backing. The Saudi Public Investment Fund said in April it would end its multibillion dollar bankrolling of the breakaway tour at the end of the season. Chief executive Scott O'Neil said a signed agreement with a new investor is in place and has been approved by the LIV Golf board, with the transaction expected to be completed in September. No details of the amount of money that will be invested were announced.
O'Neil added LIV will make its players "majority equity holders" in the competition, calling it "a first for a major global sports league". The LIV press release said the proposed deal with the lead investor is for "2027 and beyond". The competition will reduce to 10 events from next season, with five in the United States and five held around the world.
There were 14 events planned for the 2026 season but in April LIV postponed June's New Orleans competition and has not announced a rescheduled date. Last week O'Neil said LIV was focused on "finishing the 2026 season strong", but made no explicit mention of the final two events scheduled this season, in Indianapolis from 23 August and the concluding Team Championship in Michigan from 30 August. PIF has pumped in more than $5bn (£3.71bn) since the league launched in 2022.
Major winners Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia remain part of the LIV roster after leaving the PGA Tour. American major champions Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed rejoined the PGA Tour after it introduced a returning member programme. On the subject of the league's players and profile, O'Neil said: "I think when you have a global game and you have 57 players from 21 countries and you're playing in 10 countries on five continents, how you define stars gets really interesting. "So while I have all the time in the world for Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, I think I'd be remiss in saying they're not only two of the biggest, best golfers on the planet, but I think they're some of the biggest stars in sports, let alone golf. "Would certainly love them to come along for the ride and journey because they carry maybe more weight than anybody in the game and I have a lot of time for that."
Until the investor transaction is completed in September, LIV bosses are said to be taking a disciplined approach to support its long-term sustainability and maintain operations. The remaining scheduled events are Indianapolis from 23 August and the Team Championship in Michigan from 30 August.