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Bryson DeChambeau Breaks His Silence on LIV Golf's Future

2026-10-31 · News

Bryson DeChambeau has finally spoken about LIV Golf's collapse into bankruptcy, and he isn't walking away. On Raj Shamani's Figuring Out podcast, released a day after the deadline for players to commit to LIV's next chapter, the two-time US Open champion said the league's first version wasn't run properly, that his own team made money anyway, and that the new, player-owned LIV is "going to be done right."

How LIV got here

The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns all of LIV and has reportedly put more than $5 billion into it since it launched in June 2022, said it would stop funding the league after the 2026 season. LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey on 8 September, with court documents estimating its liabilities at between $500 million and $1 billion.

The rescue plan comes from BC Partners Credit, with up to $300 million in loans, investment and financing. Under the proposed ownership, the players would hold 52.5%, BC Partners and minority investors 45%, and management 2.5%. LIV 2.0 is expected to start in early 2027.

"The top co wasn't managed effectively"

DeChambeau put the blame on LIV's central company, not on the idea of team golf. "I really care, and I still do care deeply about the team golf stuff," he told Shamani, "and the top co just wasn't really managed that effectively, and I know that now."

He said there was "a lot more capital that was going to be at play with the guys that were funding it, and it didn't work out," and pointed to the big upfront payments of the first version, made with "no real governance."

Crushers GC made $8 million

His own team, Crushers GC, was doing fine, he said. "Our teams were doing very well. Like our teams, we generated almost $29 million last year in revenue. We had $21 million in cost just from payment of players and expenses and travel and everything."

"So we made $8 million EBITDA last year," he went on, "but then all the player payments and everything got pushed down to the teams when they went bankrupt because the top co wasn't being run effectively." (EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax and other costs, so it isn't the same as profit.)

LIV 2.0: less money, more control

The new deal turns the old one on its head, he said. "This time around, it's more the opposite. We're not really getting paid, but we do have the governance, you know, control."

"The business model makes a lot of sense, and we're actually working through that right now for this new model where it will make full financial sense. It's no funny business, no nothing. It's going to be done right, and this is going to be a league, hopefully, that exists forever."

He also wants the new league to work alongside the established tours rather than fight them: "It's not combative. We're not trying to compete against the Tour. We want to be accretive. We want to bring value to anywhere and everywhere in the golf market across the world."

Who's gone

Not everyone is staying for the relaunch. Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Lucas Herbert and Charles Howell III, who played for Crushers GC, have all confirmed they're leaving, and Joaquin Niemann, LIV's record nine-time winner, is expected to follow. DeChambeau, 33, is now the biggest name committed to LIV 2.0.

His other job: YouTube

Whatever happens to LIV, DeChambeau already has a second career. His YouTube channel has 3.01 million subscribers, and he's built it around the Break 50 series, where he tries to shoot under 50 with a guest.

The last couple of months show how far it's gone beyond tour golf:

• Bryson's Backyard Games: a $100,000 tournament at his home course, released day by day from 21 September, which ended with Chance Taylor beating Bryson himself in a 1v1 final.
• Break 50 with a 90-year-old and with "the #1 small golfer".
• Stephen A. Smith caddying for him, a round with the Amish, Pro Golfer v 5 Levels of Mini Golf, and Pro Golfer v Field Goal.
• Course vlogs at Fairmont Banff Springs and, this week, Sugarloaf Golf Club, "the world's most beautiful fall golf course".

Player profileBryson DeChambeau: handicap, every tracked round and his channel→

The best handicap on golf YouTube

We track every full round he posts on his channel, and as of 31 October 2026 DeChambeau has a +9.5 handicap from 36 rounds. That's No. 1 of the 124 players on our leaderboard, ahead of Jason Day (+8.7) and Ian Poulter (+8.0).

His recent rounds:

With the LIV logo back beside his name, he's still the man to beat on the leaderboard.

Live leaderboardSee every golf YouTuber's handicap on the live leaderboard→