Martin Kaymer casts doubt on LIV Golf’s Michigan finale
Cleeks GC captain Martin Kaymer told Today’s Golfer he gives LIV Golf’s planned Michigan team championship only a 5% chance of happening.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Martin Kaymer says LIV Golf’s planned season-ending team championship in Michigan is barely clinging to the calendar.
The Cleeks GC captain told Ben Parsons of Today’s Golfer that, after a captains’ meeting this week, he believes the Michigan finale is “highly unlikely” to be played and put its chances at “5%.”
Kaymer said the players received little certainty in the meeting, according to CBS Sports. He said Indianapolis is “most likely” still going ahead, while Michigan looks doubtful.
“So basically, what we already knew,” Kaymer told Today’s Golfer, according to CBS Sports. “That’s why I think it became a captains’ meeting and not a players’ meeting, because they couldn’t give us much more than we had before.”
LIV Golf is in the United Kingdom this week for what CBS Sports described as its final international tournament before three August events in the United States. Those events have been listed on the schedule, but CBS Sports reported there are no guarantees all three will happen as the league faces financial uncertainty after losing backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Indianapolis could be in play
Kaymer also raised the possibility that the Indianapolis event could be changed into the team championship if Michigan drops off the schedule. He said he heard on Golf Channel that such talks had taken place, though he stressed that players do not know whether that change will happen.
The idea gives LIV a possible way to crown a team champion, but Kaymer said it would come with a trade-off: another individual tournament would disappear from the season.
“I think that would be a shame that we get reduced even more individual tournaments,” Kaymer told Today’s Golfer, according to CBS Sports. “On the other hand, how do you want to have a team winning the whole season if you don’t have a team event?”
Kaymer pointed to the earlier cancellation of LIV Golf’s New Orleans event as part of a messy year. He said the priority now should be getting through the season and having a plan for 2027.
More questions than answers for 2027
The uncertainty stretches beyond Michigan. CBS Sports reported that LIV Golf’s 2027 plans are unclear after the league lost its Asian Tour partnership.
Jon Rahm was asked Tuesday whether he expected to play on LIV Golf in 2027, according to CBS Sports. Rahm shrugged and said he could not share information he did not have.
That leaves LIV with a shrinking list of firm answers. Based on Kaymer’s comments and CBS Sports’ reporting, the league may be looking at the UK event plus two more stops rather than the full closing stretch that had been planned.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS Sports.