LIV Golf cancels Michigan team championship amid fears tour could fold

LIV Golf has officially canceled its season-ending team championship in Michigan scheduled for Aug. 27-30, perhaps the latest sign that the struggling golf league could soon end operations altogether.

LIV Golf confirmed on Monday, Aug. 17 that the LIV Golf Indianapolis event slated to begin on Thursday, Aug. 20 will mark the end of its 2026 season after weeks of speculation that its team championship event in Michigan would be called off amidst funding issues.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which has reportedly spent more than $5 billion founding and operating LIV Golf, announced in April that it would not continue funding the tour following the 2026 season as part of a strategic shift, leaving LIV officials to find an alternative source of funding.

OPINION: Jon Rahm has three choices. But he won’t totally love any of them

But the LIV Golf season went on and it was still selling tickets to the team championship event as recently as Aug. 12, according to Golfweek. By the afternoon of Thursday Aug. 13, however, fans visiting the league's website were greeted with a terse message: "The tickets you were looking for are no longer available." No additional information was provided, including whether ticket holders would receive refunds.

No tournament infrastructure was erected at The Cardinal at St. John's in Plymouth, Michigan, which welcomed tens of thousands of spectators for LIV Golf's 2025 Team Championship. The Telegraph reported on Aug. 12 that LIV Golf players had already been informed the team championship event had been called off.

A memo for LIV Golf's Indianapolis event released Monday, Aug. 17 made that official by announcing, "the four-day stroke play event will take place Aug. 20-23, at The Club at Chatham Hills, where 57 players will contend for the Indianapolis individual title and final spots in the League's individual season-long standings. The team competition will count the scores of all four players on each team every day, culminating with one of the 13 teams being crowned the 2026 LIV Golf Team Champion."

LIV Golf CEO Scot O'Neil told reporters earlier this month that the tour had secured an agreement with an unnamed new lead investor, in addition to crafting a new organizational structure that will make the tour's players "majority equity holders" moving forward. The 2027 LIV schedule will feature just 10 events, instead of 14, with five taking place in the U.S. and five at international sites.

But rumors of LIV Golf's impending demise have continued in recent weeks, with prominent LIV Golf member Ian Poulter recently noting in an interview that "time might run out."

"There is a hard deadline I think of September 1st ... to find $300 million," Poulter said on GOLF LIFE on YouTube. "That is not a lot of time considering people and contracts have got to be signed."

Yes, but the circumstances and initial status awarded by the PGA Tour will depend on the golfer and on what terms they left the PGA Tour.

Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour's new CEO, indicated in his most recent public comments he was open to allowing more golfers who defected to LIV Golf to return to the PGA Tour if it made the PGA Tour stronger. But Rolapp emphasized it was not one of the PGA Tour's priorities as it eyes a revamped schedule beginning next year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LIV Golf cancels Michigan team championship amid fears tour could fold