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LIV Golf finally announced that its season-ending $40 million team championship in Michigan next week is canceled—culminating a chaotic few weeks for the league as the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s funding ends after this season.
The league said Monday afternoon that this week’s LIV Golf Indianapolis event at The Club at Chatham Hills, which begins Thursday, “will celebrate an Indianapolis champion, the 2026 season individual champion and top three finishers and the 2026 team champion.” LIV Indianapolis is scheduled to have a standard $30 million purse. No details on any prize money shifts were revealed, so it’s unclear whether any of the $40 million previously allocated for the team championship will still be paid out. LIV has not yet responded to a request for clarity from Front Office Sports.
LIV Michigan had been scheduled for Aug. 27–30 in suburban Detroit at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort, which is owned by the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation. But its cancellation had become inevitable after weeks of confusion and uncertainty about the team championship. Sources told FOS in late July that the event would be canceled, after Martin Kaymer, captain of the Cleeks GC LIV team, said it was “highly unlikely” the team championship would be played in Michigan. No grandstands, hospitality, or other tournament infrastructure was ever built out at The Cardinal.
“LIV Golf is grateful to the Pulte Family Foundation for their partnership and support,” the league said in a statement. Michigan ticket holders will receive refunds, LIV said.
In previous years, the team championship has featured match play, but this week’s finale in Indianapolis will be a standard stroke play event. The team portion of the competition will count the scores of all four players on each team every day—the same rules as typical LIV events—culminating with one of the 13 teams being crowned the 2026 LIV Golf team champion.
LIV also canceled two concerts scheduled for this weekend in Indianapolis. “Due to unavoidable changes in the entertainment program for LIV Golf Indianapolis, the league informed Thomas Rhett and Disco Lines that their live musical performances will no longer take place,” a statement read. “LIV Golf recognizes the disappointment these changes may bring for fans, local stakeholders, Thomas Rhett and Disco Lines, and appreciates the significant time and effort invested by the artists and their teams.”
LIV Golf Michigan is the second LIV event this season to be canceled. LIV Golf Louisiana, which was to be the league’s debut tournament in New Orleans in late June, was canceled in April.
The state of Louisiana has been waiting for LIV to pay back $1.2 million the league previously received from the state as partial payment for a $5 million hosting fee. The state remains in formal discussions with LIV on next steps, so there is no specific timeline for the repayment.
“By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes next and maintain the operational rigor this transition demands,” LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said in a statement. “We are reimagining LIV Golf as a fundamentally new league owned by the players and anchored in a sustainable business model, with an evolved fan experience built for the markets where the game is growing fastest across the globe and the support of world-class partners.”
LIV has said it has secured a new lead investor to carry the league forward as the Saudi PIF ends its funding after this season. No deal has been finalized, but LIV is in talks with BC Partners Credit.
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