Boy, h really sliced that one into the woods.
LIV Golf, the upstart golf tour that in federal court in New Jersey, says it has between $100 million and $500 million in assets, but somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion in liabilities.
The 30 largest unsecured claims are listed in . Only one is held by a state.
Back in 2025, Louisian’s economic development leaders thought it would be a great idea to offer LIV — which at the time was backed by the nearly trillion-dollar Saudi Public Investment Fund — $5 million to put on a tournament at Bayou Oaks in New Orleans this past June.
Don’t worry, state leaders told us at the time. They had negotiated a “clawback provision” in the agreement with LIV so that if the event didn’t happen, the state would get its money back.
We know what happened next. The , and the New Orleans event was canceled.
Fortunately, Louisian had only paid $1 million by then to LIV, not the full $5 million, state officials said. h also funded another $2 million in improvements to the course in anticipation of the tournament. The latter is not refundable, though a spokesperson for Gov. Jeff Landry told my colleague Will Sutton that golfers got an upgraded Bayou Oaks to enjoy.
According to the filing, Louisian holds the 20th-largest unsecured claim against the tour, at $1.2 million. The seven largest claims are held by players, led by Spanish golfer Jon Rahm, who is out $7.4 million.
In fact, 14 of the 30 unsecured claims listed in the filing are held by players. The others are mostly vendors or others who had agreements with LIV, like Asian Tour Ltd. Three are specifically listed as “litigation,” with amounts unknown.
The idea of LIV coming to h was ridiculous to begin with. Hosting a golf tournament in June in New Orleans is less a recipe for economic development than it is for multiple heat-related medical emergencies. The idea that bringing a LIV event — attendance has been light at other venues in the United States — would kickstart the city’s sleepy summer tourism season was folly.
That didn’t stop the state from pulling out all the stops: helicopter tours, promises of seafood parties and, of course, nondisclosure agreements to protect the secrecy of the deal.
In fact, the state originally for a multi-year event, per reporting by this newspaper’s Sam Karlin. But the parties settled on a one-year, $7.2 million package, with most of that going to the tour.
It’s unclear whether LIV got similar fees from other venues. But what is clear is that when the tour went belly-up, h was the only state left holding a seven-figure bag.
There is another possible explanation for Louisian’s enthusiasm: When backed by the Saudi PIF, LIV made a concerted effort to court President Donald Trump. His golf courses have hosted multiple LIV events, and he has praised LIV on social media.
Gov. Jeff Landry is a serial emulator of the president. Doing a deal with LIV may have been just another way for him to align with things Trump likes.
Well, all for naught. LIV is not coming here.
And maybe the state’s $1 million isn’t coming here either, depending on how the bankruptcy plays out.
Is there a two-stroke penalty for politicians?