Jon Rahm is playing in Abu Dhabi for the first time this week. He’s set to tee it up in the penultimate event of the DP World Tour season. It is also his first time playing since leaving LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed league he joined in February 2022.
“I can only reflect on those three years as a positive,” he told the media at Yas Links on Tuesday morning. However, he admitted he didn’t view LIV 2.0 in the same regard.
“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.”
Richard Heathcote
Rahm played a total of 38 LIV Golf events as captain of Legion XIII. He won four and finished inside the top 10 in 33 of those events. In total, on the course, he earned more than $100 million during his four years on LIV.
Pushed on why exactly he didn’t want to sign up for the restructured version of the league in 2027, Rahm hinted at some specific changes proposed in LIV 2.0.
“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.”
Jon Rahm reflects on his time on LIV and discusses why he turned down LIV 2.0.
(Questions by @_BenParsons) pic.twitter.com/O3I1Mxjwdl
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) November 3, 2026
The Spaniard, like many players who have left LIV Golf in recent weeks, is planning to play on the DP World Tour in 2027. However, he was asked about whether or not a return to the PGA Tour is also a possibility.
“I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there’s any path back for next year. So I don’t know, as of right now. Until I get clarity on that, yeah, my plan would be to spend the year on the DP World Tour, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Rahm was one of four players offered a one-time deal under the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program in January 2026. While Brooks Koepka returned under that arrangement, Rahm along with Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau did not.
Koepka returned to the PGA Tour in January and played in 16 events throughout the season, finishing 94th in the FedEx Cup. As part of his deal to return to the tour, he made a $5 million charitable donation, wouldn’t be eligible for FedEx Cup bonus money in 2026, wouldn’t have access to the tour’s equity grants for five years and would need to qualify his way into the tour’s signature events.
When asked if Rahm would accept a similar penalty today in order to return to the PGA Tour in 2027, the 31-year-old admitted he likely would.
“Most likely, yeah. Why not? Yeah, but it’s a big if. 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.”
Warren Little
Indeed, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has said that the returning member program was a limited offer and that a similar deal would not be on the table. “This is a one-time, defined window and is not a precedent for future situations” he said in January. “Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.” It was a stance he has reiterated subsequent to LIV Golf’s bankruptcy filing.
Whether or not that door is locked for good, time will tell. It’s unclear if we will see Rahm on the PGA Tour in 2027, but he will be playing on the DP World Tour. His 2026 season will finish there also, starting this week in Abu Dhabi. He sits 51st on the Race to Dubai, with the top 50 qualifying for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next week.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
