We know where Jon Rahm is playing this week. But where the two-time major champion and LIV Golf pro will tee it up next year is an open question.
Rahm is in Ireland this week to compete in the 2026 Amgen Irish Open, a DP World Tour event that’s drawing an impressive field from LIV and PGA Tour ranks, including Rory McIlroy.
LIV Golf’s 2026 season, though, is over after coming to an abrupt and early end at LIV Indianapolis last month, and the league’s future is uncertain. Following the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s decision to pull funding, the league is hoping to create a new-look LIV Golf 2.0 for next season.
But LIV’s leaders need two key things to happen to make that a reality. First, they need to find big-money investors willing to back the league in 2027 and beyond. Second, LIV needs to keep its biggest stars like Rahm on board to play next year.
And those two goals are connected: Without guarantees that star players will stick around, investors would be less willing to sign on with the league and put up the many millions of dollars necessary to make it work.
Rahm is still under contract with LIV Golf for years to come, but with the league teetering on the edge of dissolution, and with many millions still owed to Rahm, it’s an open question whether or not he will play to the end of his contract.
Rahm on pathway back to PGA Tour: ‘I still have a contract with LIV 1.0’
On Tuesday, BBC Sport caught up with Rahm in Ireland ahead of the Irish Open and asked him directly about whether he would be a part of LIV’s future, or if he was aiming to rejoin the PGA Tour.
Rahm’s blunt answers did not clarify his intentions, but they did raise some more questions.
“There’s just a lot of things in place, right? There’s a lot of things that could happen, and it’s one of those things where time’s gonna tell,” Rahm began.
The reporter then asked Rahm if he would like to see a pathway back to the PGA Tour for himself, and Rahm again dodged the question, responding that he was still under contract with LIV.
“Well, you know, I still have a contract with LIV 1.0 that I’m more than willing to fulfill,” Rahm said. “So, like I said, time will tell.”
That Rahm specifically mentioned “LIV 1.0” is important. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil has discussed his vision for the league’s future, referring to it as LIV 2.0. Rahm signed his LIV contract in 2023, one reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
It’s possible the new-look LIV 2.0 would not be able to fulfill the contract Rahm originally signed. In other words, Rahm could be delicately making the point that if LIV pays him what he’s owed, he’ll continue to play for the league.
Following that qualified response, the reporter pressed Rahm on the issue, asking whether, if his LIV contract fell through or the league went under entirely, he would want to go back and play the PGA Tour.
But Rahm wasn’t willing to take the bait, responding simply, “We’ll see what happens.”
Whether or not the PGA Tour would provide a pathway for Rahm to return is another question. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and some Tour players have suggested that the temporary Returning Member Program Brooks Koepka used to rejoin the PGA Tour, and which Rahm was also offered, would not be available for LIV players who didn’t take the offer the first time.
The other option for Rahm should LIV fold would be to play primarily on the DP World Tour in 2027 and earn his way back to the PGA Tour through the official pathways available on the European circuit.
