More than 10 LIV Golf players, led by two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, are teaming up to negotiate with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) over unpaid contracts, The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig reports. Their claims total more than $100 million. Bubba Watson and Thomas Detry are also in the group.
“The group’s public emergence comes just before the Sunday deadline for player commitments to LIV’s 2.0 iteration.”
LIV Golfers Not Happy With Severance Payment Offers
According to the report, the PlF ‘initially offered 2 cents on the dollar for unpaid contracts’. “None of the players in Johnson’s cohort are expected to sign the restructuring agreement between LIV and BC Partners in its current form.”
The players want what they call severance payments from the PIF, which bankrolled LIV until it pulled the plug in April. The group is making headlines ahead of Sunday’s deadline for player commitments to LIV 2.0, though new investor BC Partners Credit can push that deadline back. A source told The Athletic that none of the players in Johnson’s group are expected to sign the restructuring agreement as it stands.
Several other golfers have also announced they won’t compete in LIV 2.0, including Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbon and Ian Poulter. Jon Rahm announced his departure earlier this month.
LIV Golfers Claim They Were Given False Promises
Johnson’s longtime lawyer, David Cornwell, represents the group and says the players made “career-altering decisions” based on “repeated promises” from the PIF. He said their decision to join LIV 2.0 will depend largely on how the PIF handles the wind-up of the original league. Essentially, it’s a “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on you” situation.
“The PIF was an honorable business partner until what we regard as its abandonment of LIV golfers,” Cornwell said.
Not everyone is waiting to see what the PIF will do. Bryson DeChambeau leads a separate group in the bankruptcy proceedings and isn’t part of this effort.
LIV paid more than $15.6 million in executive retention bonuses, including $6.375 million to CEO Scott O’Neil, in the weeks before filing for Chapter 11 in September. A source said the PIF sees itself as an equity investor that has stopped investing and isn’t talking to players. Another source said the PIF first offered 2 cents on the dollar.
Cornwell warned other sports leagues to take notice of how the PIF treats athletes. LIV expects settlements to go through the courts, and players make up the top seven unsecured creditors. If LIV 2.0 happens, it is expected to feature 10 events.
LIV Golf Stars Band Together With Demand for PIF: Claims Top $100 Million