Michael La Sasso potentially became the answer to a trivia question on Monday when he tapped in a birdie on his final hole to defeat Jon Rahm and win the LIV Golf Indianapolis event on Sunday.
This huge victory for the 2025 NCAA individual champion is notable not just for his own career but for LIV in general, as there is a realistic chance this was the final event in the golf league’s memorable run.
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None of this comes as a surprise to many. The Saudi PIF previously announced it would not fund the league beyond this season (possibly because of Sergio Garcia!), and CEO Scott O’Neil is scrambling to secure sufficient new financial backing to keep the league going. In the meantime, there have been reports of LIV paying players late, missing vendor payments, canceled festivities, and the curious situation surrounding the eventually canceled LIV Michigan event.
All of which gave this weekend’s Indianapolis tournament a somber tone despite the best efforts of those involved to make it a celebration.
The future for LIV Golf is hazy, as is the future for its players, many of whom are likely to go groveling back to the PGA Tour, hat in hand, hoping for a second chance. Among them is Bryson DeChambeau, who has remained publicly loyal to LIV even as others have defected.
DeChambeau, who finished T3 in Indianapolis and in second place in LIV’s final Individual standings, was asked about the league’s future following Sunday’s final round. Even now, in spite of all the bad news, he seemed to remain upbeat and steadfast about LIV’s future.
“I think there’s a lot of potential moving forward. It’s been an interesting ride, that’s for sure,” DeChambeau said Sunday. “You know just as much as I have everything that we’ve gone through and the tough moments that we’ve had. But it’s made us stronger.”
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He then teased that he might know something the public doesn’t yet know about “LIV 2.0,” though he switched from present tense to past tense in what might have been an unknowing slip.
“As much as we’re transitioning from LIV 1.0 to 2.0, I have great thoughts about what could happen next year. I wish I could be more up front about it,” DeChambeau said. “But ultimately I’m proud of the fact of what we’ve done, the good and some of the bad that we’ve unfortunately had, things that have occurred. I’m going to be real with it; not everything was perfect. But for the most part, we’ve done a solid job.”
With his final comments, one could certainly read the 2024 U.S. Open champion saying that LIV was something that happened, but not something that will continue.
“If there’s one thing that I could say, it’s we did something different in the game of golf, and I’m proud of that,” he said.
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Perhaps putting a complete period on that sentence, DeChambeau later took to Instagram and posted a collage of photos from LIV with the caption, “It was a good run.”
On the LIV broadcast, announcer Arlo White and analysts David Feherty and Nicolas Colsaerts struck similar tones, discussing LIV’s current iteration as coming to an end, while suggesting there might still be more to come.
“I think I’m most proud of our crew, the men and women who have put these shows together under, you know, all the uncertainty, all the hostility,” said Feherty. “You know, they’ve continued to provide something that’s a little different for the golf fan and also the players who are so invested in this from word go and have been approachable. You can see them afterwards signing. They’ve been great with us.
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“You know, it’s just been a special thing to be a part of. And I’m very proud of it all.”
Hope springs eternal, but whatever happens from here, it’s safe to say LIV Golf as we know it has come to an end. We’ll see what happens next.
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