Australian golf fans embraced LIV Golf like no other market in the world. They bought the tickets, filled the fairways and turned Adelaide into the league’s greatest success story.
Now, with LIV Golf heading towards liquidation, those same supporters face the prospect of chasing refunds through American bankruptcy courts. It is an appalling way to repay their loyalty.
RELATED: LIV Golf files bankruptcy plan as liquidation looms
For all the controversy surrounding LIV Golf, Australian fans embraced the league with an enthusiasm rarely matched anywhere else. Adelaide became the jewel in LIV Golf’s crown. The crowds, atmosphere and extraordinary support demonstrated what the concept could achieve when it genuinely connected with a golfing audience. And how has that loyalty been rewarded?
Australians who purchased tickets for the 2027 event now face uncertainty over their money, potentially receiving only cents in the dollar through bankruptcy proceedings. When Australian Golf Digest approached senior LIV Golf management to verify reports surrounding ticket refunds, management confirmed that affected ticket holders would need to contact the league’s bankruptcy attorneys in the United States and submit a formal proof of claim.
Think about that.
Australians purchased tickets to an event in Adelaide, only to be directed towards American bankruptcy lawyers to recover their own money. It is simply unacceptable.
Responsibility must sit with LIV Golf’s senior management, whose decisions deserve considerably more scrutiny. Perhaps nothing illustrates the disconnect better than revelations that seven senior executives received approximately $US15.6 million in retention bonuses in the months leading up to the league’s September bankruptcy filing. That is roughly $23 million Australian dollars in executive payments while the business was facing mounting financial difficulties and unpaid creditors.
Whatever the contractual justification for those payments, the optics are dreadful. Senior management received millions in retention bonuses while ordinary fans who purchased tickets (for the 2027 event) in good faith are now wondering whether they will recover their money.
It simply does not pass the pub test.
Australian golf fans should be furious. So should the South Australian Government, which committed substantial public resources and political support to making Adelaide an international sporting success. Remember, this was the only government at the time willing to take a chance on the league as it looked for a home.
The financial fallout could extend considerably further. How many Australian businesses are owed money? How much debt has LIV Golf left behind? How many suppliers, contractors and commercial partners will be forced to pursue claims through American bankruptcy courts? As the full creditor schedules emerge, it will be revealing to discover the extent of the league’s Australian liabilities.
And it is not just the fans who have been left hanging. LIV Golf has also left its Australian team, Ripper GC, facing an uncertain future. Captain Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Elvis Smylie helped build the league’s profile in Australia, yet its collapse has left their playing futures disrupted. These were the players who helped deliver LIV’s greatest success story, and now they, like so many of their supporters, have been left to pick up the pieces. Poor management and poor treatment of those who backed the league, at seemingly every turn.
There is also a question about whether LIV Golf’s senior management ever truly understood the sport. Australian star Lucas Herbert publicly raised concerns (this week) about the league’s direction, including its proposed schedule, playing opportunities and access to major championships. The league’s failure to retain enough leading players to secure its proposed financial rescue raises further questions about the judgement of those running it.
RELATED: The 12 most unforgettable LIV Golf moments (that you’ve probably forgotten)
It is difficult to imagine Greg Norman, who understood Australian golf and its supporters better than most, allowing the league’s relationship with its most loyal fans to deteriorate to this point.
Norman had his critics, but he understood the importance of relationships and loyalty with Australian golf fans.
LIV Golf promised to revolutionise professional golf and for years Adelaide appeared to be delivering.
Instead, its collapse has left its most passionate supporters facing uncertainty and potential financial losses. Australian golfers backed LIV when much of the golfing world rejected it. They made Adelaide its greatest success. Now they are being directed to bankruptcy lawyers on the other side of the world to recover their own money.
That is not how you repay loyalty. It is how you destroy it.
Are you chasing a refund?
Australian Golf Digest understands anyone who purchased a ticket for a 2027 LIV Golf event is being directed to the company’s claims and noticing agent, Omni Agent Solutions, where they will find information regarding the Company’s chapter 11 process, including claims deadlines and procedures.
The deadline to submit a claim established by order of the Bankruptcy Court is December 11, 2026 at 5pm (prevailing Eastern Time). LIV Golf is in the process of delivering proof of claim forms to known purchasers of tickets along with instructions on how to assert a claim for parties who believe they are, in fact, owed payments by LIV Golf.
Website: www.omniagentsolutions.com/livgolf
Phone: (888) 918-4632 (U.S. and Canada) or (818) 510-4675 (International)
Email: [email protected]
Want to get something off your chest?
Email [email protected] to share your story.
