NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) – American Bryson DeChambeau said on Sunday he would face the next chapter of his career with “humility and respect”, days after LIV Golf announced plans to liquidate.
LIV Golf’s financing plan collapsed this week and the circuit said it would wind down operations after the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced it would cut funding.
BC Partners has revived efforts to create a successor, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
DeChambeau’s choice to leave the PGA Tour for the Saudi-backed circuit four years ago marked one of the highest-profile defections in an acrimonious, multiyear saga that engulfed the sport.
“I’m not going to rewrite the last four years. I made a decision I believed in, and I’m grateful for what came with it: playing in front of fans new and old around the world who rarely got to see the best players at home,” DeChambeau said on social media.
“I believed this game could reach more people, in more places, in a new way. I still believe that. And I gave it everything I had to keep team golf alive.”
Former major champions including Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed had already signalled their departure from LIV. Koepka was reinstated by the PGA Tour under its “Returning Member Program.”
But many LIV players, who were lured to the breakaway circuit by supersized paychecks, face an awkward and challenging return to established tours.
“Arnold Palmer said no player is bigger than the game, and I want to acknowledge that, along the way, I’ve said some things that didn’t help,” said DeChambeau, who plans to compete at Gary Player’s Nedbank Golf Challenge in December.
“Whatever comes next, I’ll approach it with humility and respect for the people who carried this game before me.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
