LIV Golf Lured Stars With Guaranteed Contracts. In Its Bankruptcy, the Seven Biggest Creditors Are All Players
Jon Rahm is owed $7.4 million by a league that filed for chapter 11 after its Saudi backer walked away. A guarantee, it turns out, is only as good as whoever stands behind it.
By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Thursday, September 10, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2026 edition
Key Points
LIV Golf filed for chapter 11 after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulled its backing this spring, listing liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion.
The league’s seven largest creditors are all players, led by Jon Rahm at $7.4 million, and as creditors they’re likely to recover only a fraction of what they were promised.
More than $5 billion of Saudi money has gone into LIV since its 2022 launch, and the Public Investment Fund is now lending $49.6 million to fund the bankruptcy case.
CEO Scott O’Neil wants a LIV 2.0 backed by about $300 million of outside money, with players becoming majority owners through equity instead of huge checks.
The filing followed two canceled tournaments, vendor lawsuits over unpaid bills and mass layoffs in August.
$7.4M
owed to Jon Rahm, the largest creditor
7
largest creditors, and all of them players
$500M–$1B
liabilities listed in the chapter 11 filing
$5B+
Saudi money put into LIV since 2022
LIV Golf launched in 2022 with Saudi backing and guaranteed contracts that lured some of the sport’s biggest names; its chapter 11 filing now puts those players at the top of its creditor list.
In one line: LIV Golf’s guaranteed contracts turned its stars into its biggest creditors, and every guarantee in a plan deserves one question: who stands behind it, and up to what limit?
Jon Rahm signed with LIV Golf for guaranteed money. This week, guaranteed met chapter 11. The league filed for bankruptcy after its Saudi backer, the Public Investment Fund, pulled its money this spring, and its seven largest creditors are all players. Rahm tops the list at $7.4 million. He told the BBC his original contract is one he’s “more than willing to fulfill.” The catch? It takes two to fulfill a contract, and the one writing the checks has already left the clubhouse.
A promise, standing in line
More than $5 billion of Saudi money went in after the 2022 launch. Now the filing lists liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion, and the players probably won’t recover more than a fraction of what they were promised. That’s how bankruptcy works: a promise without collateral is an unsecured claim, and unsecured claims wait their turn behind the secured ones. The ironies pile up. The fund that walked away is lending $49.6 million to pay for the case, and CEO Scott O’Neil’s LIV 2.0 would seek about $300 million of outside money with players as majority owners — equity instead of checks. Whether Rahm and company sign up, or look to return to the PGA Tour, isn’t clear yet.
Who’s standing behind yours?
Most financial plans lean on a guarantee or two, and each one has a name behind it. Bank deposits carry FDIC insurance, generally up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category. Private-sector pensions are insured by the PBGC, but only up to limits set by law. Annuity guarantees rest on the insurer that issued them, with state guaranty associations stepping in only up to limits that vary by state. That doesn’t make any of them bad tools. It makes the fine print part of the product.
You don’t wait for the payer to file before reading who stands behind the promise. Pull the statements — the bank accounts, the pension estimate, the annuity contract — and match each guarantee to its backer and its limit. It’s about fifteen minutes of work, and a lot more pleasant than learning the answer the way the LIV players did.
What It Means For Your Portfolio
Hold — check who stands behind every guarantee
A guarantee is only as strong as whoever stands behind it and the limit they cover; bank deposits, private pensions and annuities each come with a named backstop and a ceiling worth checking before it matters.
General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular: FDIC insurance generally covers $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category; the PBGC insures private-sector pension benefits only up to legal limits; and state guaranty associations back annuities up to limits that vary by state. Anything above those lines rests on the payer’s own strength.
In the book, there’s no position here — LIV Golf is a private league — and nothing is being bought or sold ahead of Friday’s inflation report. The lesson travels, though: the book’s safe money sits in short and floating-rate Treasurys, where the backer is the U.S. government rather than a single private payer, and knowing the backer is the standard worth applying to every guaranteed line in a household plan.
