The Cleeks star has told TG he is disappointed that another LIV event is in jeopardy…
LIV Golf’s $40 million season finale scheduled for next month is in serious jeopardy.
Martin Kaymer, who leads the Cleeks GC team on the breakaway league, has told TG that it is now “highly unlikely” the Team Championships at The Cardinal course in Michigan will go ahead.
Kaymer was present at a captain’s meeting at LIV Golf UK on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the league’s return after a seven-week hiatus. That lengthy break was enforced after LIV postponed a regular season event in New Orleans in late June amid reported concerns about soaring temperatures and course conditions, and now the league could be plunged into further chaos.
In the meeting, LIV chief Scott O’Neil assured players that there were investors interested in saving the embattled league. O’Neil is fundraising for $350 million in a bid to plough on after the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced they were withdrawing their multi-billion backing at the end of the season, and has had positive feedback since taking LIV to market.
But the clock is ticking and TG understands the league has a September deadline to secure the funding it needs to preserve its future beyond 2026.
“We were hoping for a bit more information,” Kaymer, the former world No.1, told TG at JCB Golf & Country Club on Wednesday. “I mean, we got the information, but we were more looking for decisions or what was happening next year. And unfortunately, even Scott, he can’t tell us because he doesn’t know. It depends so much on the investors. Hopefully, I think there’s a lot of interest and it’s looking good.
“But we’ve all been there. If the signature is not there, then it doesn’t mean anything.”
Meanwhile, speculation builds over the final events on the LIV schedule. There had been reports that LIV’s last regular season at Chatham Hills in Indianapolis could be pulled, but the league’s lucrative team showpiece in Michigan now appears under most threat.
“I know that Indianapolis most likely is happening,” Kaymer added. “There was a conversation yesterday. Michigan, highly unlikely. So basically, what we already knew. That’s why I think it became a captains’ meeting and not a players’ meeting, because they couldn’t give us much more than we had before.”
Kaymer believes there is a “five percent” chance the tournament will take place as scheduled because infrastructure is yet to be built on the course.
“Of course, we are disappointed,” says Kaymer. “I heard yesterday, actually, on the Golf Channel that there were talks that Indianapolis could become a team event instead of Michigan. That we don’t know. I think that would be a shame that we get reduced even more individual tournaments.
“On the other hand, how do you want to have a team winning the whole season if you don’t have a team event? We need to be honest. The whole season was a bit of a… there was so much happening. Yeah. Cancelled New Orleans. Cancelled most likely the last event. So I think it’s important to just finish the season and hopefully we’ll have a plan for 2027.”
A decision is expected to be made next Tuesday on whether the plug will indeed be pulled on the Michigan event, but Kaymer admits that “according to yesterday, it didn’t look good”.
The two-time major champion added: “It’s just a shame for the whole LIV Golf schedule if it doesn’t happen and for the whole team thing because we would love to play match play against each other.
“That would have been really cool. But if it doesn’t happen, it is what it is and we just need to focus on hopefully 2027 and, you know, hit the reset button and try to be more independent next year.”
LIV is continuing to plan ahead in the meantime in discussions with potential investors, pitching a streamlined model with fewer events and reduced prize pots. The league suffered another blow this week, though, when it was announced that it had lost its key partner, the Asian Tour.
LIV secured an agreement with the second-tier circuit in 2021, prior to its launch, and the Asian Tour has since offered the league pathways for promotion and relegation. But the Asian Tour has now signed a global alliance with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, leaving LIV to plough its own furrow in its bid for survival.
“They are working their arses off to get a deal,” Kaymer stressed. “But in the end, if those investors decide to pull out, then we don’t play golf next year on LIV Golf. And if they decide to do it, then we have a chance.”
Kaymer expects to find out LIV’s fate at LIV’s penultimate regular season event at Trump Bedminster in two weeks’ time.
“It’s a bit sad because we all invested in this year and I’m not meaning financially,” he said when asked about the uncertainty. “We invested time, emotions, hopes, the vision, and if it would fail that way, the way it failed now, because we’ve been told in February we are fully funded until 2031 and two months later, it all goes down. It would be a shame.”
LIV Golf declined to comment on the Michigan event when reached by TG. The Cardinal course has also been approached for comment.
