The biggest name in YouTube golf got heat from fans for signing with LIV Golf. Now, it owes him $1.4 million.

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Will Martin

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Saudi-funded rebel golf tour LIV has revealed it owes Rick Shiels, the sport's biggest social media star, more than $1 million.

LIV Golf attracted some of golf's top stars by offering huge paychecks when it launched in 2022. On Tuesday, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

On its list of current largest creditors is Rick Shiels Media, the company run by Shiels, a golf instructor turned YouTuber who now has over 3 million subscribers on his main channel.

Rick Shiels Media is owed $1.4 million in unsecured debts, according to documentation filed by LIV in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

Shiels is among 24 people and entities listed owed more than $1 million by LIV, including many golfers on the tour. Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, the two most prominent players who turned their backs on the long-established PGA Tour to join LIV, are each owed more than $7 million, bankruptcy documents show.

The PIF, the Saudi wealth fund that financed LIV, has agreed to provide $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing to repay creditors, it said in a statement accompanying the bankruptcy filing.

In the bankruptcy filing, LIV CEO Scott O'Neil said the move would provide the "structure and time to pursue a landmark transaction and begin the next chapter of LIV Golf."

Rick Shiels Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. LIV Golf declined to comment on individual contracts and said the Chapter 11 filing was part of "a comprehensive set of steps" to secure its future.

YouTube golf's biggest name

Shiels, a UK-based former golf pro, attracted substantial criticism from fans in January 2025 when he announced he would become an ambassador and content creator for LIV.

Much of the backlash centered on LIV's backing by the PIF, which has long faced accusations of sportswashing after investing billions of dollars into numerous sports, including golf, Formula 1, boxing, and soccer.

He lost thousands of subscribers, and online commenters were quick to say he had partnered with LIV solely for financial gain, after he had previously criticized it on videos and podcasts.

Shiels acknowledged the backlash in an interview with Golf Monthly in May 2025, saying he went into the agreement "knowing full well there was going to be some kickback and some negativity around it."

Since launching in 2022, LIV has struggled to gain traction among audiences and has consistently lost money. A merger with the PGA Tour was agreed in 2023 but never finalized. In April, the PIF said it would withdraw its funding for the tour.

That led to an abrupt conclusion to the LIV season, with its finale, a team-based tournament in Michigan, canceled 10 days before it was due to begin on August 27.

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Will Martin

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Will Martin is a senior business editor with 10 years of experience in various roles at Business Insider. He works with a team of reporters and editors to cover everything business, with a special focus on consulting, financial markets, and the aviation industry.Prior to working on the business news team, Will led Insider's sports coverage in the company's London bureau, publishing award-nominated work on alleged gang involvement in elite boxing, deeply-reported features on a civil war in Olympic sport modern pentathlon, and profiles of some of the biggest rising-stars in soccer.Before joining the sports team, Will spent a year as an associate editor on Insider's global news team. Before that, Will worked as a markets and economics reporter for Business Insider for more than three years.During his time with the news team, Will assigned and edited reporting and features on everything from the Boeing 737 Max crisis, to the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China, to global geopolitics, and even a Barack Obama-themed service station in Ireland.He also personally reported on allegations of illegal mass human organ harvesting in China.Prior to working for Insider, Will earned a BA in International Relations from the University of Exeter and an MA in Financial Journalism from City, University of London.

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