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Scottie Scheffler did quite well for himself financially without leaving for LIV (Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
As LIV Golf made it official Tuesday by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, there is a healthy debate to be had over the impact the league has had on men’s professional golf. You’ll undoubtedly get a lot of opinions, with answers most likely coming from a previous place of bias.
The final stories have yet to be written as LIV Golf attempts to reinvent itself with a leaner version of its opulent self. Three weeks into its offseason, CEO Scott O’Neil is in the midst of trying to find investment while dealing with the fallout from his previous Saudi benefactors not paying their bills.
Who stays and who goes remains a talking point, as does any path back to the other tours. Some of LIV’s players are attempting to go through the DP World Tour’s Qualifying School. How LIV Golf will fill its roster going forward is also a topic of discussion.
Amidst all that chatter came the official move on Tuesday that LIV Golf announced as a “restructuring support agreement with BC Partners Advisors, L.P., the credit
business of BC Partners,” in which a majority of the business would be owned by the players.
“LIV Golf takes strategic action to secure its next era, setting the stage for a future alongside its players and new financial investors,“ LIV heralded upon announcing its bankruptcy filing.
So after five years of greatly enriching players and spending into the billions, LIV Golf is now seeking court relief.
How it plays out remains to be seen but it would be difficult to argue that professional golfers are not better off financially today, especially those at the top of the game.
Also in today’s DD …
Folds of Honor Collegiate concludes today
How to watch the Solheim Cup this week from the Netherlands
LIV Golf was paying $20 million individual purses since its inception in 2022 without a cut, guaranteeing huge sums to even those who fared poorly.
As late as that 2022-23 season when LIV formed, the PGA Tour had only two tournament purses worth at least $20 million — its $25 million flagship Players Championship and the U.S. Open. It had two playoff events that were $15 million plus the bonus money paid out at the Tour Championship. The majors ranged from $16.5 to $19 million. It had four other events with $12 million purses.
Four years later in 2026? There were 10 events with $20 million purses — not including the majors and the Players — and another that was canceled in Hawaii. There was also the $40 million Tour Championship.
And it was all but assuredly a result of LIV Golf.
Yes, purses were due to rise in the intervening years through contractual arrangements that were built into sponsorship fees.
But it all changed in August of 2022 when a group of players met in Delaware — including Tiger Woods — at the BMW Championship, coming up with what is now the “signature event” plan that greatly raised purses and also had a series of no-cut events to guarantee pay. (Don’t get us started on the Player Impact Program, which also debuted in 2022 and funneled obscene amounts to various PGA Tour players based on metrics; it was a lucrative disaster.)
“I think the emergence of LIV Golf or the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour has benefited everyone that plays elite professional golf,” said Rory McIlroy in 2024. “I think when you’ve been the biggest golf league in the biggest market in the world for the last 60 years, there’s not a lot of incentive to innovate. This has caused a ton of innovation at the PGA Tour, and what quite honestly, I would say, an antiquated system is being revamped to try to mirror where we are in the world.”
At the time McIlroy said that, Brian Rolapp had not been hired as CEO of the PGA Tour. But the Strategic Sports Group’s investment of $1.5 billion had already taken place, and the tour had shifted to a for-profit model known as PGA Tour Enterprises.
Although a deal with Saudi’s Public Investment Fund never occurred, it was clear that the PGA Tour was investing more into the players.
Perhaps the best example of that is Scottie Scheffler.
The now four-time major winner who recently won the Tour Championship and second FedEx Cup and is quite possibly on his way to a fifth consecutive player-of-the-year honor, has cashed in with the new era of signature events and prize money.
First called “elevated events” in 2023 and then changed to signature events, Scheffler has played in 27 of those tournaments over the past four years, winning six of them. His worst finish in any of them is a tie for 24th this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which meant his lowest payday was $157,000.
Three of the winning prizes were $4 million with the other three $3.6 million. Over those 27 events, Scheffler earned more than $40.6 million, or roughly double what he’d have made in the same events had purses remained at their 2022 levels. And that doesn’t factor in the increased prize money at the FedEx Cup playoff events over the past four years.
Another way to look at it: in those 27 events — tournaments that didn’t exist in 2022 in their current form — Scheffler has earned nearly one third of his entire PGA Tour-leading career earnings of $130.3 million.
To be fair, Scheffler would have made a substantial sum in the past four years had purses not increased at all. Starting in 2023, he’s won 18 times. Even if every winning purse total was $1.5 million, that’s still $27 million alone.
And not to be outdone — the number of $20 million purses is expected to double on the PGA Tour as part of the new Championship Series model.
Would any of this have occurred without LIV Golf? It’s hard to envision it happening at this level and this quickly.
A word from Folds of Honor
This week’s Daily Drive newsletter is being sponsored by the Folds of Honor Collegiate, a 54-hole event that concludes today at the Jack Nicklaus-designed American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Michigan. Michelob ULTA is the event’s presenting sponsor and is joined by broadcast partners Sinclair Oil, Titleist, Compliance Solutions and TIAA.
Among the competitors this week is Notre Dame senior Rocco Salvitti, who is playing in the FOH Collegiate for the fourth consecutive year. A senior from Pittsburgh, Salvitti is from a Gold Star family, which means a family member was lost in battle. Salvitti’s uncle, Lance Corporal Ryan “Kov” Kovacicek, was Rocco’s godfather. He passed away July 10, 2005 in Iraq.The last time he was home was for Rocco’s baptism.
The Folds of Honor Collegiate raises awareness and funds for Folds of Honor and its mission to provide educational scholarships to the children and spouses of fallen or disabled military and first responders.
At American Dunes, the Jack Nicklaus-designd venue for the tournament, there are several landmarks, memorials such as plaques and bronze boot prints that serve as reminders of deceased service members.
For example, there is a plaque at each tee box, one highlighting each of Nicklaus’ 18 major championship victories, and another in honor of deceased service members.
Click here for more information.
GT’s Emberson hangs onto lead at American Dunes
Georgia Tech freshman Max Emberson shot 1-over-par 72 and has a one-shot lead with one round to go at the Folds Honor Collegiate tournament at American Dunes Golf Club. Emberson had shot 63 in his first-ever collegiate round on Monday. His two-day total of 7-under has helped Georgia Tech to a one-shot advantage in the team competition.
Emberson leads by one stroke over a trio of players — Ohio State’s Vaughn Harber, Notre Dame’s Jacob Modleski and Texas’ Daniel Bennett. Both Notre Dame and Texas are a stroke back in the team competition.
The Yellow Jackets were led by a 69 from junior Albert Hansson. Hansson, a Fiskebäckskil, Sweden, native, carded a 33 on the back nine and had birdie-or-better results on three of his final five holes, including an eagle on the rar-5 18th hole.
Click here for the men’s scoring.
In the concurrent women’s competition, Arizona’s Olivia Hung shot 68 to grab a one-shot lead at 3-under over Duke’s Mia Hammond and Kansas’ Anna Wallin. Hung, a native of Taiwan, used four birdies and a bogey-free front nine to push into first place on the individual leaderboard.
The only women’s team under par through two rounds is Kansas, which backed up it’s opening 4-under score with a 1-under second round. The Jayhawks lead by six strokes over 2024 Collegiate champion Arizona, which recorded the field’s lowest second round with a 3-under 285.
Click here for the women’s scoring.
How to watch the Solheim Cup
The 2026 Solheim Cup pitting the best women’s golfers from the U.S. against a team from Europe is being played this week at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. Coverage will be provided in the U.S. exclusively on the Golf Channel.
Opening ceremony: Thursday, noon ET, Golf Channel
Day 1: Friday, 1:30 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
Day 2: Saturday, 1:30 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
Day 3: Sunday, Sept. 13, 5 a.m. ET to noon ET, Golf Channel
Scoring: There are 28 points across 28 matches and to win a team needs 14½ points. Because the United States won the last Solheim Cup, it would retain the Cup with a 14-14 tie. The U.S. leads the series 11-7-1.