Reports: LIV prioritized executive payments over vendors

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil poses for a photo with Power Player of the Year Josele Ballester during the final round of the LIV Golf Indianapolis golf tournament at The Club at Chatham Hills. LIV Golf paid more than $15 million to retain top executives in the final months before Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund ended its financial support of the tour, while many vendors and contractors were left with unpaid bills. CEO Scott O'Neil received $6.375 million in June to stay with LIV ahead of the tour's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in September, according to media reports unpacking documents filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. O'Neil also received a $2.68 million bonus in February. He was paid $13.67 million in total from September 2025 through August 2026. Other LIV executives to receive retention bonuses of $1 million or more this past summer, according to Front Office Sports, include: CFO David Phillipps ($3.36 million), chief legal officer John Ruzich ($2.61 million), president of business operations Chris Heck ($1.31 million), and global chief people officer Jennifer Frieman ($1.04 million). O'Neil was asked about the outstanding payments to various vendors at an LIV event in August. "We're doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them and the work they committed, and I hope we can," O'Neil said, per Front Office Sports. The Saudi PIF spent upwards of $5 billion since LIV's 2022 launch. The tour plans to move forward with "LIV 2.0" in 2027 thanks to a significant investment by BC Partners Credit. Bankruptcy documents also revealed player payments over the past year, most notably to Jon Rahm ($26.64 million), Bryson DeChambeau ($13.86 million) and Dustin Johnson ($10.73 million). --Field Level Media