LIV fears Jon Rahm will quit

James CorriganThu, August 13, 2026 at 11:03 AM UTC

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Jon Rahm looks set to quit the breakaway league after signing for $300m in 2024 - Kate McShane/Getty Images

Fears are growing within LIV Golf that Jon Rahm will soon quit the breakaway league, with the DP World Tour increasingly confident that the European circuit will be seeing plenty of the Spaniard in 2027.

Rahm is expected to make a final decision in the coming weeks, if and when LIV secures funding for 2027. LIV has been fighting to survive since the Saudi Public Investment Fund – which has ploughed in more than $5bn (£3.7bn) in its four-year existence – announced earlier this year that it was withdrawing its backing from the end of this season.

And after Telegraph Sport revealed on Wednesday that LIV has told players that the “Grand Team Finale” scheduled for two weeks’ time in Michigan has been cancelled, that means next week’s tournament in Indiana will conclude the 2026 campaign. The question then will be if Detroit has witnessed the last event in LIV’s history, or at the very least Rahm’s farewell.

LIV sources have indicated that they are almost resigned to Rahm departing, with multiple insiders claiming that the DP World Tour have already been primed about his intentions. However, it is a complicated scenario with many moving parts, not least the sense that if Rahm does return to the traditional tours, it could become more difficult for LIV to secure the necessary finance to keep the show running into next season and beyond.

Scott O’Neil, the LIV chief executive, revealed last week that a “term sheet” had been signed with a lead investor, who the Financial Times later reported as BC Partners, the private equity and credit financiers based in London. The FT also claimed that the chances of the deal getting over the line could be contingent on the big names remaining.

Bryson DeChambeau has been steadfast in his ongoing commitment, but Rahm has remained vague. The 31-year-old has two years left on his LIV contract but Telegraph Sport understands he is still due “a nine-figure” portion of the staggering $300m signing-on fee with which the former world No 1 was lured to join in 2024.

Rahm and former LIV Golf commissioner and chief executive Greg Norman (right) in 2024 - Scott Taetsch/AP

PIF could still honour this shortfall, or a portion of it in an agreement between the parties, or Rahm could receive the debt as equity in LIV 2.0. But sources insist that Rahm is not enamoured by the prospect of the new LIV iteration, which is touted to feature just 10 events, with greatly reduced purses.

What has made this even less appealing is the DP World Tour’s assertion that it is “highly unlikely” to grant “conditional releases” like this year. Rahm struck a deal with Wentworth HQ to be spared any more fines or bans in 2026 for appearing in LIV events, so long as he paid off his backlog of sanctions – which amounted to more than $2m (£1.48m) – and committed to play five events this campaign.

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If the two-time major winner had not agreed, he would have lost his Tour membership and been ineligible for next year’s Ryder Cup. And with the Tour’s hardline stance, this scenario has reared its ugly head again and not just for Rahm.

Tyrrell Hatton, his LIV team-mate and Ryder Cup partner, signed a similar deal with the Tour, but if he stays with LIV, faces fines and tournament bans for the next campaign and the same applies to others such as Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin and Poland’s Alex Meronk.

Meanwhile veterans such as Sergio García and Lee Westwood have paid up their fines and have been considering rejoining. The LIV 2.0 schedule – supplemented by starts on the DP World Tour – is an attractive proposition, but this now seems to have been closed off.

For Rahm, the continued noise can only be a distraction. He has compiled more than $90m in on-course earnings and bonuses in his three seasons on LIV, but now he apparently wants a route back to his former standing.

The PGA Tour might extend the same offer for him to return as it did to Brooks Koepka at the start of the year, but it might also make him serve the same one-year suspension as Patrick Reed, and play his way back on to the US circuit via the DP World Tour rankings.

The Rahm saga is indicative of the rampant uncertainty at LIV that has developed since the Saudis suddenly decided to turn off the taps.

Bubba Watson summed up the ambiguity and indecision in the LIV locker room. “I can pick and choose if I have a job next year,” Watson said at the Danish Championship on Wednesday. “And then you don’t know. You can’t say you’re in or you’re out until you find out what’s really going on and what options you have and what that looks like. So we’ve been talking about it.

Bubba Watson says players have been talking about LIV’s uncertain future in the locker room - Luke Walker/Getty Images

“We have a player meeting right now, but I’m missing it because I’m in here. All 57 players and they’re talking through it, what it’s going to look like next year. So yeah I have the option. I can quit or I can keep playing.

Both LIV Golf and the DP World Tour are remaining tight-lipped on this issue, while Rahm’s management have been contacted for comment.

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Source: “AOL Sports”