LIV prioritised executive payments over vendors: Reports

LIV Golf paid more than US$15 million (S$19.23 million) to retain top executives in the final months before Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund ended its financial support of the tour, while many vendors and contractors were left with unpaid bills.

Chief executive Scott O’Neil received US$6.375 million in June to stay with LIV ahead of the tour’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in September, according to media reports unpacking documents filed last week in US Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey.

O’Neil also received a US$2.68 million bonus in February. He was paid US$13.67 million in total from September 2025 through August 2026.

Other LIV executives to receive retention bonuses of US$1 million or more this past summer, according to Front Office Sports, include: chief financial officer David Phillipps (US$3.36 million), chief legal officer John Ruzich (US$2.61 million), president of business operations Chris Heck (US$1.31 million), and global chief people officer Jennifer Frieman (US$1.04 million).

O’Neil was asked about the outstanding payments to various vendors at an LIV event in August.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them and the work they committed, and I hope we can,” O’Neil said, per Front Office Sports.

The Saudi PIF spent upwards of US$5 billion since LIV’s 2022 launch. The tour plans to move forward with “LIV 2.0” in 2027 thanks to a significant investment by BC Partners Credit.

Bankruptcy documents also revealed player payments over the past year, most notably to Jon Rahm (US$26.64 million), Bryson DeChambeau (US$13.86 million) and Dustin Johnson (US$10.73 million). REUTERS