In summary

  • A wave of player exits, including Graeme McDowell, Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, threatens LIV's ability to deliver the Adelaide event to the standard required by its contract.
  • South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says LIV has told officials it's "all systems go" for 2027, but warns the government won't proceed unless the standard of event is met.
  • The player commitment deadline tied to BC Partners' $300m funding pledge has been extended to October 30 amid ongoing US bankruptcy hearings.

A commitment from Cameron Smith to LIV 2.0 may not be enough to keep the event in Adelaide, with a flurry of exits unlikely to allow officials to deliver the “standard of event” the contract with the South Australian government demands.

Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell has become the latest addition to a list which already includes headline acts Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Australian Lucas Herbert as players who won’t be a part of LIV in 2027.

A deadline for player commitments, needed for BC Partners to follow through with a pledge of $300m in funding for the embattled league, has been extended to October 30 as bankruptcy hearings continue in the US.

However, before the deadline, Rahm and his Legion XIII team-mates Tyrell Hatton and Tom McKibbin, have confirmed their exits, while the fourth member, Caleb Surratt, played in the Hong Kong Open with no LIV logos on his clothing.

Sergio Garcia, David Puig, Louis Oosthuizen, Brandon Grace, Ian Poulter, Abraham Ancer, Thomas Pieters and Adrian Meronk are among those who have declared their intentions to play elsewhere in 2027 and beyond.

Smith, the 2022 Open Champion, is yet to confirm his plans, but it has been reported the Australian is among a host of players, including Ripper GC team-mate Marc Leishman, to have formally requested a release from his LIV Golf contract at the ongoing bankruptcy hearings.

South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas said his government had indications from LIV officials that it was “all systems go” for the 2027 Adelaide event, to be staged at Kooyonga Golf Club.

However, if Smith joins the list of departures, the lack of star power (with only Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson arguably remaining as players of significant calibre) could prove the death knell.

“It’s tricky. LIV Golf are officially telling us that they are all systems go to be back here,” Malinauskas told radio station SEN this week.

“But we are monitoring it pretty closely. What’s happening with the players is going to be the most instructive outcome here.

“It’s very important to us they keep the likes of Cam Smith and Bryson DeChambeau in that playing roster; that underpins the success of the event. That’s something we are monitoring closely just to see how it unfolds.  

Lucas Herbert has quit LIV. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“We’re not going to go through with LIV unless they put on the standard of event they have put on in the past, which has been truly exceptional.

“We’re going to know for sure in the next two to three weeks.”

Amid various reports around LIV 2.0, it's been suggested officials have commitments from up to 15 players to be a part of what would be a scaled-back, 10-tournament series of events around the world with significantly reduced prizemoney.

However, the only players currently with LIV to have made public commitments to 2027 are veteran Richard Bland and lesser lights Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele and
Ben Campbell.

It has also been reported Johnson is part of a group of more than 10 players, including Bubba Watson and Thomas Detry, who are set to take on the Saudi Public Investment Fund, LIV’s original backers who ploughed more than $6 billion into the league before pulling funding for more than $100 million in "severance payments".

As part of that action, they have refused to sign a new agreement until those claims are actioned, adding to the concern over LIV’s future in Adelaide.