So, the LIV Golf Team Championship finale, that glitzy affair we all optimistically penciled into our calendars, is looking about as secure as a house of cards in a hurricane. Martin Kaymer, a chap who’s won a couple of majors and probably knows his way around a bunker better than a balance sheet, has thrown a rather large spanner in the works.
The main culprit? The Saudi Public Investment Fund, who apparently decided this whole golf thing wasn't quite their cup of Saudi tea after all. This leaves LIV scrambling for a cool £260 million, a sum that’d make Scrooge McDuck sweat. Scott O'Neil, the chief executive, dropped a rather uninspiring update, leading Kaymer to sigh, with the kind of dry wit that would make Oscar Wilde proud, that Tuesday's meeting was "not particularly encouraging."
While the last individual event in Indianapolis might still limp to the finish line, the big team showdown in Michigan is looking decidedly dodgy. Kaymer, playing captain, summed up the general mood: "Michigan, highly unlikely. According to yesterday, it didn’t look good." When asked about next year, O'Neil admitted he’s as clueless as the rest of us, waiting for investors to bless them with their cash. It’s all down to signatures, apparently, and in the world of golf these days, signatures are about as reliable as a squirrel crossing a busy road.
And just to add a cherry on top of this melting sundae, the Asian Tour, who were fellow travelers on this grand experiment, have gone and cozied up with the PGA and DP World Tours. One imagines this isn't exactly music to the ears of anyone who’s bet their bottom dollar on LIV sticking around. LIV’s official response to Kaymer’s rather blunt assessment? A deafening silence. Which, as we all know, is often the most eloquent answer there is.