SI:AM | LIV Golf Is Actually Done

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Are you ready for an all-time great day of college football tomorrow?

In today’s SI:AM:
👋 LIV runs out of options
🌀 Miami is back on top
🏈 Breer’s intel on Jonathan Taylor market

No more lifelines for LIV

LIV Golf, the formerly Saudi-funded upstart golf league that spent five years wreaking havoc on the sport, is shutting up shop.

Lawyers for the tour said yesterday during a bankruptcy court proceeding in New Jersey that LIV has abandoned its restructuring plans and will instead liquidate its assets. The announcement comes after BC Partners Credit yanked its planned $300 million investment that would have kept LIV running in a revamped form. Barring a last-minute investment from another firm, LIV is officially toast.

LIV was on life support ever since the Saudi Public Investment Fund said in April that it was halting its financial support for the league, which was reported to be $1 billion annually. LIV announced in August that it had secured funding to stay afloat and would return in 2027 under a revamped format, which it was calling LIV 2.0. The plan was to play fewer tournaments and give players equity in the league rather than pay them the hefty salaries that the tour had become known for. The Athletic reported that LIV had signed more than 30 players to take part in the 2027 season, with 10 more (including “several stars”) still weighing the offer.

Several big names had already announced that they had no interest in joining LIV 2.0. That includes LIV’s most successful player, Jon Rahm.

“Why I rejected the terms? As much as I liked the project and the idea on, let’s say, LIV 1.0, I wasn’t thrilled with the changes they were doing to 2.0 and I just wasn’t willing to follow that path,” Rahm told reporters this week at the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship. “It wasn’t anything special, anything that stood out.”

Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton, Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen also bailed. But ditching LIV before its demise won’t make those players’ 2027 plans any clearer. The PGA Tour offered LIV defectors a path back in January with its Returning Member Program, but the offer was a one-time deal. It allowed players to forgo a one-year suspension if they accepted certain penalties, including making a $5 million donation to charity and forfeiting equity in the Tour. Only Brooks Koepka accepted. Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith were also eligible but declined. Patrick Reed left LIV around the same time but was not eligible for the Returning Member Program. He spent 2026 playing on the DP World Tour and will be able to return to the PGA Tour in 2027.

Unless the PGA Tour backtracks and offers high-profile former LIV golfers a lifeline similar to the one Koepka accepted, players will have to follow Reed’s path. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has said on multiple occasions that the Tour does not plan to reintroduce the Returning Member Program.

Rahm said on Tuesday in Dubai that he hasn’t spoken with the PGA Tour about a potential return but that if he was offered the same return plan as Koepka, he “probably would” accept the penalties. For now, Rahm expects to play on the DP World Tour while serving his suspension.

The other big question is what happens to DeChambeau. The fact that the PGA Tour extended him one of the handful of invitations to return before last season would seem to indicate that the relationship between DeChambeau and the Tour isn’t beyond repair, even though he was one of 11 LIV Golf players who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in 2022. But his 2027 season is very much up in the air. Unlike Rahm, DeChambeau has never been a member of the DP World Tour. He has until Nov. 16 to apply for membership. Otherwise, he’s just going to have to be a YouTuber.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Miami is ranked No. 1 in the AP poll heading into this weekend’s mega matchup with No. 4 Notre Dame. — Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

Bryan Fischer: The U Is Back on Top, But Miami Football Looks Nothing Like Its Glory Days
Albert Breer: NFL Trade Deadline Reports: Jonathan Taylor Will Cost a First-Round Pick
Matt Verdarame: AFC’s Forgotten Team Might Be the Conference’s Best By Multiple Metrics
Gilberto Manzano: 2027 NFL Draft: Don’t Mess With Ashton Hampton, Clemson’s Unforgiving Shutdown Corner
Zach Koons: Best College Football Saturday Ever? How Week 10 Stacks Up Against Other 21st Century Greats
Ryan Phillips: One Decision That Will Shape Every National League Team’s Offseason

The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. Ravens running back Justice Hill’s 65-yard touchdown run. It was an ugly night for Baltimore, which lost 33–10 to the Jaguars. Hill gained more yards on that one play than third-string quarterback Joe Fagnano threw for all game (60).
4. Draymond Green’s long overhead pass to Stephen Curry.
3. Some beautiful passing by the Ducks for a power-play goal against the Oilers.
2. Illinois guard Quentin Coleman’s reaction to hearing that Caitlin Clark was in the building for his 20-point game against Penn.
1. The chaotic conclusion of Jackson State’s upset win over Tulane. Tulane called a timeout but didn’t have any remaining, allowing Jackson State to win the game with a pair of technical free throws. (Tulane is in New Orleans, which was also the site of Chris Webber’s infamous timeout gaffe in the 1993 national championship game.)

📺 What we’re watching today …

College football

Virginia Tech at SMU, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Nebraska at Illinois, 8 p.m. ET, FOX
TCU at No.22 Arizona, 10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN

NBA

76ers at Cavaliers, 7:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video
Trail Blazers at Lakers, 10 p.m. ET, Prime Video

Men’s college basketball

No. 16 Michigan vs. No. 4 UConn, 8 p.m. in Boston, TNT

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