Optimistic LIV players say they're being kept in the loop. Whether that's reassurance or just damage control is another question, after another ally jumped ship and bankruptcy talk, lawsuits and a Saudi funding freeze swirl.
LIV Golf's death-riders were quick to pounce when news broke that the Asian Tour had signed a strategic alliance with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.
The Asian Tour was one of the few to lay out the red carpet for LIV players back in 2022, effectively acting as LIV's second-tier through a promotion-and-relegation feeder system. Ending that relationship - with LIV's own "circumstances" cited as a reason - was seen as another hammer blow, coming as billions in Saudi funding for the breakaway tour dry up this year.
There have also been reports LIV is working through bankruptcy options and staff redundancies, all while officials battle lawsuits on multiple fronts - most recently from a digital provider who wasn't paid.
Poster boy Bryson DeChambeau is uncontracted for 2027. He is believed to be seeking a $500 million deal and has talked boldly about simply becoming a YouTube golfer; his reputation dented once again by his behaviour at the Open Championship.
LIV has also scrapped an event for this year, and CEO Scott O'Neil has been unable to say anything concrete about 2027 beyond hoping to find investors willing to put in a minimum $300 million to keep the league afloat.
The cumulative effect has cast a dark cloud over LIV. Plenty in golf have no time for O'Neil's hopeful talk, the discontent of onlookers fuelled by whispers of players quietly lining up their own safety nets. Most seriously doubt LIV has a future.
However, where there's life, there's hope. While the golfing world's attention was on The Open at Royal Birkdale last week, O'Neil appears to have been working behind the scenes.
Gathering at the JCB Golf & Country Club for this week's LIV event - the first since the league's rough run of headlines - the optimism from players was on full display.
Team captain Jon Rahm, LIV's two-time defending individual champion and highest-paid player, had few details to share on the discussions taking place with officials, but his takeaway was clear.
"We know a lot of what's going on, yeah," he said. "I am always optimistic. I play a game for a living. I can't really be too upset about how things are going in life. Even though I'm very frustrated on the course very often, off the course I'm very different to what a lot of people think."
At Birkdale, Australian LIV star Lucas Herbert admitted he and his fellow players were shaken when news broke that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would no longer back the league, just before their event in Mexico.
"All hell broke loose," he said, describing the period as "unnerving". As time passed and conversations were had, those fears eased - though without solid confirmation of what happens next year, and with expectations that purses will be wound back from the $20 million on offer each week.
Lee Westwood, a LIV player since day one, missed Birkdale - his own national Open - a side-effect of the former world No.1 playing for no ranking points, one of the many trade-offs behind LIV's financial pros.
An end to LIV wouldn't hit him as hard as it would Herbert, who has no playing status anywhere else, or Cam Smith, who's in the same position despite a reported $140 million sign-on fee that should keep him financially secure.
Westwood was even more upbeat than Rahm, though his optimism rests on what he's been told - an important caveat.
"There's obviously meetings going on at a higher level than what we're privy to," he said. "We've been kept well informed of what's going on whenever there's information to pass on and relay down to us. I feel like I know enough about what's going on, and I'm optimistic for the future, yeah."
He said his confidence had grown since players last gathered at Valderrama in early June, when hope seemed all but lost.
"Yeah, I think so. We've been informed of a lot of what's going on," he said. "Obviously, there's some stuff that is still to be ... there's stuff in the works. There's a process going on. Maybe nobody knows how that's going to turn out at this very moment, so there's nothing to relay on about that. But yeah, I don't feel like I'm being kept in the dark or anything like that. It's very transparent."
Westwood has even joined the hunt for the millions needed to bankroll LIV himself.
"We have met a lot of people, and we know a lot of people in private equity - obviously putting their names forward to look at this as the bigger picture," he said. "I think everyone is trying incredibly hard. The amount of hours the team are actually putting in to have a 2.0 version is pretty impressive. I think they're doing everything they possibly can."
That hope extends to LIV's website, where ticket waitlists are open for 2027 events in Adelaide, South Africa, Hong Kong, Mexico and even Korea - the markets where LIV has genuinely thrived. However, there's nothing on offer in the USA or Europe, the battlegrounds LIV has failed to conquer.
The fight now plays out off the course, in offices and financial boardrooms - the biggest battle the "world" league has ever faced.
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