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Jon Rahm won in Abu Dhabi for the first time away from LIV Golf since 2023 Masters (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)
Unshackled from the burdens associated with his high-profile stature with LIV Golf, Jon Rahm won his first event outside of LIV in more than three years at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Sunday, giving him a mathematical shot at claiming the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai title this week.
That’s certainly one way to analyze Rahm’s performance since 2023, and it’s a criticism the Spaniard is understandably pushing back on this week ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
“We’ve got to stop blaming LIV for me playing poorly at the majors,” Rahm told reporters in Dubai on Tuesday. “I know what you are all trying to insinuate. It’s not because of LIV. It’s my own. Because I did have a chance to win the PGA (Championship) the last two years we played it, right. It’s my own doing and my own, let’s say, golf swing problems.
“That’s what I was alluding, that when you are not playing a big event, it’s a lot easier to manage certain things. Golf courses usually are easier, so you can manage them that way. So I hope that what I’m working on recently can be something that makes me more consistent on the biggest stages.”
Also in today’s DD …
Carnoustie lands 2029 Open; Muirfield and Turnberry still outside looking in
Tiger Woods ‘feeling better’ and ‘will be at Hero.’ Will he play? TBD
Balanced Motor City runs over Wie West’s L.A. team in WTGL
Is LIV Golf only mostly dead or can investor still resuscitate it?
Rahm’s impressive victory at the DP World Tour’s penultimate 2026 playoff event renewed hope that the two-time major champion can once again take his place among the top players in the game now that he has left LIV Golf and will apparently play a DP World Tour schedule in 2027 while awaiting his future PGA Tour fate.
It was Rahm’s first victory outside of LIV since his win at the 2023 Masters. His relative lack of success on the major stages over the past three years led to plenty of conjecture that LIV was holding him back.
The numbers:
From 2021 through 2023, Rahm played in 12 majors, winning two, finishing in the top five in five others, with seven top-10s and eight top-25s and no missed cuts.
From 2024 through 2026 — his tenure with LIV Golf — Rahm played in 11 majors (he withdrew before the 2024 U.S. Open with a foot injury), collecting with no wins, one top-five, four top-10s, five top-25s and two missed cuts.
Since joining LIV in 2024, Rahm posted 33 top-10s in 37 LIV finishes, including four wins and 10 runner-ups. He won the league individual title all three seasons. Overall in 20 starts away from LIV in majors and on the DP World Tour, he had eight top-10s including two runner-ups but no wins.
So there are clearly a few ways to look at this.
Rahm’s game was not at the same level in the majors over the past three years, and he attributes that to swing issues, although those issues didn’t prevent him from putting together an impressive LIV résumé.
Were LIV’s limited fields easier to dominate? Did LIV’s lower level of competition overall have an impact on his major play? Possibly, although it’s not definitive, as so many factors go into the ups and downs of golf.
Cam Smith — who won both the Players Championship and Open Championship in 2022 before joining LIV — has played in 16 majors over the course of his LIV career, with just four top-10s and eight missed cuts, including six in a row at one point. But his game has also not been great as part of LIV, as he’s played the last three years without a LIV victory.
Then there’s Bryson DeChambeau, who along with Brooks Koepka are the only players to win a major championship while being part of LIV Golf. DeChambeau’s major performances improved after joining LIV. In 17 majors, he had eight top-10s, won the 2024 U.S. Open, had six top-10s in 2024-25 before struggling this year with three missed cuts.
The bottom line is it is really impossible to gauge if LIV Golf had an impact on players’ games. Any regression or improvement might have occurred regardless.
