The LIV Golf team championship scheduled for August 27-30 at The Cardinal at Saint John's Resort in Plymouth Township has only a 5% chance of happening, according to one of the league's team captains.
Two-time major champion Martin Kaymer, who captains Cleeks GC, told U.K.-based Today's Golfer on Thursday, July 23, that the season-ending event is all but dead. "There was a conversation on Wednesday: Michigan, highly unlikely," Kaymer said after a captains' meeting with LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil at the league's UK event. "According to (the discussion on) Wednesday, it didn't look good."
The news comes five weeks before the tournament's scheduled start and with zero visible preparation at the course. A Detroit News reporter who visited The Cardinal on the evening of July 23 found no hospitality suites on the 18th hole, no stage for post-round concerts, no player walking bridge across the signature pond, and no signage of any kind.
Kevin Doyle, COO of the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, which oversees The Cardinal, declined to comment on the missing buildout. He told the Detroit News the resort remains in regular contact with LIV Golf and that planning is ongoing.
Why the event is in doubt
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced in April 2026 that it would stop bankrolling LIV Golf after the current season. PIF has spent an estimated $6 billion on the league since its June 2022 launch, according to WXYZ Detroit. LIV is seeking $300 million to $350 million in new investor funding to survive into 2027.
The league already canceled its inaugural New Orleans event in late June and went on a nearly two-month hiatus before resuming play Friday, July 24, in England. Golf Channel reported talks of folding the team format into the Indianapolis individual event scheduled for August 20-23, which would eliminate the Michigan stop entirely.
A decision on the Plymouth Township event is expected by Wednesday, July 29, according to Today's Golfer.
What Plymouth Township stands to lose
The 2025 LIV Golf team championship at The Cardinal drew about 40,000 fans over three days, according to the Detroit News. Jon Rahm's Legion XIII beat Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC in a two-hole sudden-death playoff to claim the $14 million first prize.
Saint John's Resort paid a hosting fee of about $3 million for the 2025 event and reportedly paid more to secure the 2026 return, per the Detroit News. The resort announced the 2026 event in December 2025, branding it the Aramco LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship.
The Cardinal, an 18-hole championship course designed by Michigan's Ray Hearn, opened in 2024. Tickets for the August event remain on sale on LIV Golf's website as of Saturday, July 25.
LIV Golf has not responded to media requests for comment on the Michigan event's status. The next scheduled league stop after the UK event is Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, August 6-9.
