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Jon Rahm said “too many unknowns” prompted his decision to leave LIV (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Jon Rahm would be open to the idea of taking the same deal offered Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour in 2027, although he seemed skeptical that such an offer would be forthcoming as he moves on from the LIV Golf.
“I seriously doubt I get offered the same deal that Brooks did. But yeah, if I got offered exactly the same penalties as him, I probably would do it, yes,” Rahm said during a news conference Tuesday ahead of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, the first of two DP World Tour playoff events.
The two-time major champion spoke in Abu Dhabi for the first time since his representatives announced during LIV’s bankruptcy proceedings that Rahm would not be taking part in a new LIV 2.0.
“As much as I liked the project and the idea on, let’s say, LIV 1.0, I wasn’t thrilled with the changes they were doing to 2.0 and I just wasn’t willing to follow that path, right,” sais Rahm. “It wasn’t anything special, anything that stood out. I just … I didn’t like what they were going with 2.0.”
Asked what it was in particular, Rahm rebuffed the idea that it was about money — or even the money owed that he won’t see.
“Too many unknowns at the time and there are still quite a few,” he said. “It seemed like it was going away from team golf and some of the things that made LIV, LIV. It just became more of a regular tour. So yeah, it wasn’t really ever much of a consideration to be honest.”
Also in today’s DD …
Rory does not hold back
DPWT fortnight in UAE remains on track despite regional threats
The 2026 Masters and ANWA movies to premiere just before Thanksgiving
Stray Shots: LIV 2.0 needs to be a legit golf league … or else
So much has changed since Rahm signed with LIV Golf in December of 2023 for a number believed to be in the $300 million range, with some amount of that to be paid out over the term of his contract.
The thinking at the time was that Rahm’s move to LIV might force the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund, which backed LIV Golf, to come to some sort of deal — one that at times seemed close but never occurred.
Instead, the PIF decided to pull its funding after the 2026 season. The PGA Tour maintained its stance that categorizes LIV events as unauthorized and suspends any player who participate. Last month, the DP World Tour stiffened its stance against LIV players, requiring its members pick a side thus prevented players from competing on both tours.
That last factor essentially ended any possible return to LIV 2.0 for Rahm if he had designs on playing in the Ryder Cupin 2027.
The biggest question remains whether there will be a path for Rahm back to the PGA Tour in 2027, where he would still be exempt as the 2023 Masters winner if his suspension was lifted. Any place for him on the PGA Tour is far from certain at this point.
“I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there’s any path back for next year,” Rahm said. “So I don’t know, as of right now. Until I get clarity on that, my plan would be to spend the year on the DP World Tour, and I’m looking forward to it. Currently looking at the schedule to see how I can organize it to play the events I want to play. You know, maybe have a chance to have a bit of a different year to what I have in the past.
“But I haven’t really gone too deeply into it just because there’s still a question mark, right. Obviously Brooks (Koepka) was able to go back through certain circumstances. I don’t know if the possibility of that would be open for me or not, but if I have to fulfill a one-year suspension, I think it’s a pretty good position to be that a worst-case scenario I get to play on a wonderful tour for a whole year.”
Koepka came back earlier this year via a Returning Member Program announced by CEO Brian Rolapp in January. It was offered to Koepka, Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith because those players had status on the PGA Tour via their recent major championship victories.
Of course, Koepka had negotiated a release from his LIV contract and the others had not. Hence, they turned down the offer — one that Rolapp said was not precedent-setting and has repeatedly said, when asked, is no longer on the table at this time.
Rahm said he’d be agreeable to the penalties Koepka faced, which included a $5 million fine, foregoing any FedEx Cup bonus money and not being able to accept sponsor invites into signature events. (Koepka is also not able to take part in the PGA Tour’s player equity program for five years.)
Rolapp has to weigh the benefits of bringing Rahm back against some of the ill-will some of his members might feel toward him. The same would be true, to some extent, if DeChambeau — who appears committed to LIV 2.0 — or Cam Smith were to leave and want to return.
“I will be supporting the (DP World) tour, for sure, and even if I get to go and play PGA Tour events, I’ll still play European tour events, as well,” Rahm said. “I’ll play some events that I want to play like I’ve done in the past and maybe a few more.”
Ranked No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Rahm has not played since missing the cut in September at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. His wife, Kelley, recently gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, causing Rahm to miss the Open de España last month.
Ranked 51st in the Race to Dubai standings, Rahm needs to move into the top 50 after the Abu Dhabi event in order to qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship next week in Dubai.
The 2026 Masters Official Film — chronicling Rory McIlroy’s historic victory as he became just the fourth golfer ever to win back-to-back green jackets — will premiere on Tuesday, November 24 at 9 p.m. on Golf Channel. It will be immediately preceded on Golf Channel by the 2026 Augusta National Women's Amateur Official Film at 8 p.m., featuring Colombian champion María José Marín.
Rory does not hold back
In a news conference ahead of the Abu Dhabi Championship, Rory McIlroy was asked about comments attirbuted to DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings in the Scotsman in which the tour lead said LIV “wanted to destroy us.”
”I agree with everything that Guy said,” McIlroy told reporters. “They took players, they took sponsors, they turned professional golf into an arms race. They were going around Augusta this year saying they wanted to destroy the European tour.
“It’s ironic that a week later, now they are talking about ‘completing and not competing.’ That’s different from what they were saying at the start of the year. I think everything that’s transpired, a lot of the guys wanted to come back and play the DP World Tour. It puts this tour in a really strong position.
“I know they are working through a new agreement with the PGA Tour post 2027 after the first Strategic Alliance is over or is able to be renegotiated, and I know that things are progressing there and hopefully that will all get done here over, maybe over the next few weeks.
“It was always going to be good for a few years until something like this happened, or they realized they weren’t going to get any return on investment, or they were going to leave the golf space and go invest in something else and invest in something that would actually make them money.
“I think for long-term sustainability for men’s professional golf, I think we are in a much better spot.”
DPWT playoffs play on despite potential chaos
The DP World Tour is continuing on this week and next in the United Arab Emirates despite the continued unrest in the Middle East, specifically the war in Iran that could reportedly escalate after this week’s midterm elections in the United States.
Playing its final two events in the region has been a subject of consternation for months, and has had some players questioning whether the events should be played as scheduled. It’s tricky for the tour, which has an overall marketing agreement with DP World, the Dubai-based company that supports the season-long points race and is the title sponsor of next week’s event in Dubai.
This week’s tournament is for the top 70 points leaders, including No. 1 Eugenio Chacarra, No. 2 Patrick Reed and No. 3 Rory McIlroy. But the tournament is missing 11 players who are eligible, including Open champion Ryan Fox and defending DP World Tour Championship winner Matt Fitzpatrick. Others not playing include Shane Lowry, Alex Fitzpatrick, Min Woo Lee, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Ludvig Åberg, Robert MacIntyre, Si Woo Kim, Justin Rose and Ryan Gerard, who is playing instead in the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico.
Both Fox and Fitzpatrick had previously expressed concerns about traveling to the region. Abu Dhabi and other parts of the UAE have faced numerous Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting commercial and energy infrastructure since the war started in February.
Competitors in Abu Dhabi this week were issued a bulletin regarding “mobile phone alerts and emergency procedures” that outlined evacuation protocols in the event there is some sort of military action.
Tensions are high in the region. The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. allies are preparing for a U.S. strike in Iran in the wake of the recent Israeli election that left
