Lee Westwood ponders LIV Golf stay despite it filing for bankruptcy protection

The breakaway tour, which held its first tournament in 2022, says it has found a new investor in BC Partners following the decision in April by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to pull its backing.

A Chapter 11 petition, which is intended to “preserve the company’s business as a going concern”, was filed in the United States on Tuesday, with the reorganised company expected to be majority-owned by LIV players.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Westwood said: “I enjoy playing on LIV. It’s a breath of fresh air and, yes, we’re being kept informed on LIV 2.0, the new partner coming in. And I guess they’re just working on that at the moment and that’s all that I know really.

“I think everybody understands that there were mistakes made with the first one.

“The new partner is coming in to make it a sustainable tour and a sustainable operation so that’s very good but, obviously, whenever bankruptcy is mentioned, that’s never a good idea. It’s bad for a lot of people.”

PIF has agreed to provide 49.6million US dollars (£37.7m) in debtor-in-possession financing to support LIV during the restructuring, with the new era set to begin in early 2027.

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How many of its player field stay loyal to LIV remains to be seen, and Westwood said: “I think some will (stay) and some won’t.

“We’re obviously all independent contractors and everybody’s got different options at different times in their careers, stuff like that. But my plan is to have a good look at LIV 2.0 and make a decision after that.

“I enjoy playing on LIV so, if it continued the team aspect and 10 tournaments a year, which is great for me as I’ve got older, I’m 53 now, and mixing it up with playing on possibly the DP World Tour and the Legends Tour.”