LIV Golf on Monday formally hired longtime industry executive Mark Kingas a senior advisor. King, the former president and CEO of TaylorMade Golf, has most recently been the interim CEO of Jack in the Box and before that, the CEO of Taco Bell.
But he has deep ties in golf, spending 34 years at TaylorMade, as well as a stint at the top of Adidas. LIV says King will recruit, build and serve as chairman of the advisory board for LIV's 2.0 version, should it get off the ground. In 2022, King was said to have had discussions with LIV about its CEO role.
LIV has been scrambling to sign players for version 2.0 with a deadline this week from both its investor, BC Partners, as well as the Saudi PIF, which remains the majority shareholder in the league. Names like Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hattonand others have announced they wouldn't return, including Graeme McDowellearlier on Monday. It's not clear how many players have signed up for LIV 2.0, though a group of around five have said publicly they would play. The Financial Times reported over the weekend that LIV had enough interest from players to signal that it could sign a final deal with BC Partners.
LIV said in its announcement on King that it "remains on track" to secure the investment from BC Partners. And formally announcing King's hire would seem to imply the league is planning to launch version 2.0.
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