Aussie politician warns LIV over stars fleeing: ‘Monitoring closely’

In the coming weeks, we should get a good idea of whether LIV Golf will survive to see 2027. Should the league get enough player commitments, LIV 2.0 may very well go forward with a limited schedule and limited purses.

But several LIV stars have already announced or at least signaled their departures from the league.

Even if LIV 2.0 goes forward, the league is still at risk of losing its most successful tournament to date: LIV Golf Adelaide in Australia.

That reality arrived this week, when an Australian politician issued a warning to LIV Golf during an interview on Australian radio station SEN, saying that he is “not going to go through with LIV” if the league fails to get enough star players to commit to the 2027 season.

LIV Golf faces ultimatum over Australia tournament

Since the inaugural playing in 2023, LIV Golf Adelaide has been one of the league’s biggest success stories.

With fewer opportunities to see top golfers compete than golf fans in the U.S. or Europe, Australian golf fans have embraced the event, with attendance numbers stretching to 115,000 in 2026.

But if those star players opt not to join LIV 2.0, they won’t be in the field at any future LIV Golf Adelaide events. And if that’s the case, the tournament may not happen at all.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas leveled that judgment in his recent interview on SEN radio. Adelaide is the capital of the Australian state South Australia. As premier, Malinauskas has a lot of sway in the future of the LIV Adelaide tournament.

In his SEN interview, Malinauskas said they are closely “monitoring” the latest developments with LIV 2.0, despite the league’s confidence in the future.

“It’s tricky. LIV Golf are officially telling us that they are all systems go to be back here. But we are monitoring it pretty closely,” Malinauskas told SEN.

He then explained that the participation of star players like Bryson DeChambeau and Australian major champion Cam Smith was essential to make the Adelaide event a success.

“What’s happening with the players is going to be the most instructive outcome here,” Malinauskas said. “It’s very important to us they keep the likes of Cam Smith and Bryson DeChambeau in that playing roster; that underpins the success of the event. That’s something we are monitoring closely just to see how it unfolds.”

Then Malinauskas made his warning to LIV clear, revealing that they would not “go through” with the tournament if didn’t maintain the “standard of the event” by keeping star players in its ranks.

“We’re not going to go through with LIV unless they put on the standard of event they have put on in the past, which has been truly exceptional,” Malinauskas warned. “We’re going to know for sure in the next two to three weeks.”

LIV Golf’s 2 biggest tournaments at risk

The bad news about LIV Golf Adelaide comes on the heels of bad news regarding one of its other big successes of 2026: LIV Golf South Africa.

The South Africa event debuted this season and drew tens of thousands of fans to Steyn City Golf Course. The fan enthusiasm overflowed as LIV’s all-South Africa team, the Southern Guards, competed for the team win, eventually finishing second.

In his most recent public comments at LIV’s season finale in Indianapolis, CEO Scott O’Neil acknowledged the success of the Adelaide and South Africa tournaments and argued those two events would be a crucial part of LIV 2.0.

“We’re also going to lean a lot harder into what we’ve learned works. Our biggest events tell us that, and you don’t have to look too far past Adelaide to see it because what happens in Australia with Ripper GC is like something that’s really special. 115,000 fans this year, the most in the history of the country for a golf event,” O’Neil said in August. “You go to South Africa with the Southern Guards and over 100,000 people show. They were singing the National Anthem on the 18th fairway. It’s just special and different and younger and diverse.”

But the Southern Guards have recently lost their biggest players.

Last week, team captain and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen announced his departure from LIV in an emotional statement on social media. Southern Guards teammate and two-time PGA Tour winner Branden Grace is also reportedly leaving LIV.

Without the biggest South African golfers playing, the LIV South Africa event could struggle to draw the big crowds it garnered in 2026. Making matters worse are the departures of other LIV stars, like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.

With stars fleeing and its two biggest tournaments now at risk, LIV Golf’s future is getting more precarious by the day.