Spanish golfer Jon Rahm got $26 million from LIV Golf before bankruptcy

Spanish golfer Jon Rahm received $26 million from LIV Golf in the year before the Saudi-backed league filed for bankruptcy, as it also paid seven of its executives $15.6 million in retention money while contractors went unpaid, court records show.

The figures are in documents filed late Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey, where LIV sought Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 8. The payments to players also include nearly $13.9 million to American Bryson DeChambeau, the 2024 U.S. Open champion, and $10.7 million to Dustin Johnson, a former world No. 1. Australian Cameron Smith and American Bubba Watson each received about $2.5 million.

Chief Executive Officer Scott O'Neil was paid $6.375 million on June 24, less than three months before the filing, on the same day the league made retention payments of about $3.37 million to its chief financial officer and about $2.6 million to John Ruzich, its chief legal officer. O'Neil also received a $2.7 million bonus on Feb. 13. In all he was paid more than $13.6 million between Sept. 12, 2025, and Aug. 28, 2026.

Greg Norman, the Australian former world No. 1 who was LIV's first chief executive, received about $9.4 million on Sept. 26, 2025, made up of a $5.8 million settlement and a $3.6 million bonus. He had been replaced as chief executive in January 2025.

Retention payments to executives are not unusual in bankruptcy cases. The filings also list 129 payments to creditors in the 90 days before LIV went to court, while companies that worked for the league say they are still waiting for their money.

Vendors and players among creditors

Fresh Tape Media, a Colorado company that produced LIV's preseason media days, is seeking $1.23 million. Mobii Systems, which built the league's "Any Shot, Any Time" streaming feature, says it is owed more than $1.1 million. Deltatre, a sports technology company, is seeking nearly $860,000. In August, O'Neil said the league was "doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them." LIV laid off most of its staff in September.

Players are also among LIV's largest unsecured creditors. Rahm is owed about $7.5 million, DeChambeau $5.7 million, Johnson $5.5 million, Smith $4.8 million and England's Tyrrell Hatton $3.4 million. LIV listed assets of $100 million to $500 million and liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion when it filed.

Rahm, a two-time major champion who won the Masters in 2023 and the U.S. Open in 2021, joined LIV in December 2023 on a contract reported to be worth more than $300 million. He reached a separation agreement this month under which he releases LIV from "all monetary and economic claims" tied to his contracts. That means giving up the money still owed to him, the annual payments due for the rest of his deal and his equity in the Legion XIII team he captained. A judge is due to consider the agreement on Nov. 5. Rahm earned about $107 million on the course across three LIV seasons, and he is set to play the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Championship next month.

The end of Saudi money

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, spent more than $5 billion on LIV after the league's first event in June 2022. That included signing bonuses worth hundreds of millions of dollars to lure top players from the PGA Tour and the European tour. The fund said in April that it would stop financing the league after the 2026 season as it shifted its focus to projects at home. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the fund's governor, who built LIV and served as its chairman, stepped down from the league's board after the funding was withdrawn.

The fund agreed to provide nearly $50 million in financing to keep LIV running during the bankruptcy. LIV is trying to emerge from the case without Saudi support through a relaunch known as LIV 2.0, backed by up to $300 million from BC Partners Credit, part of a London-based private equity firm. Under the plan, players would hold a majority stake in the league, which would hold at least 10 events with individual purses of about $9 million, down from $20 million.

The plan depends on O'Neil signing enough players by a deadline of Sunday, Oct. 25, which can be extended. Rahm, Hatton, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, David Puig and Adrian Meronk are among those who have left or said they will not return. DeChambeau, LIV's best-known American player, has not said what he will do.