The more LIV Golf tries to escape its troubles, the more it seems to find them. As the breakaway tour fights to survive what has been a relentless storm since Saudi Arabia’s PIF pulled its funding in April, its biggest names are now piling even more pressure on the league. According to NUCLR Golf, citing the Ten Golf podcast, an unconfirmed report suggests that Jon Rahm and Bubba Watson could be preparing to deliver LIV Golf its latest blow. 

“Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, David Puig, all GONE from LIV,” they reported. “Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson are IN for LIV 2.0.”

Yet none of the named players (Rahm, Watson, David Puig, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, and Dustin Johnson) have publicly confirmed their plans. When asked about his future at LIV Indianapolis, Rahm deflected with a joke about needing a haircut, though reports suggest LIV officials are already preparing for the possibility that he could leave. DeChambeau, whose contract ended with the 2026 season, previously sparked speculation with a cryptic message about leaving LIV, though he has also said he’s proud of playing for the league.

Regardless, NUCLR Golf had more to add about European players in LIV.

“European Tour players’ futures are contingent upon what the DPWT does with conflicting event releases and penalties, but if DPWT doesn’t loosen restrictions, almost all of them will leave LIV,” they added.

Following the launch of LIV Golf in 2022, the DP World Tour fined and suspended players who competed in unauthorized LIV events. A legal ruling later upheld the tour’s right to enforce those penalties. For the 2026 season, however, several LIV players, including Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, reached conditional settlements.

The DP World Tour has a history of fining and suspending players who compete in LIV events without permission. Ahead of 2026, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were among the golfers who cut deals instead: pay the outstanding fines, commit to a set number of DP World Tour starts, and the tour looks the other way for LIV appearances. That deal only covers this season, so the fines and suspensions are back on the table once it wraps. The 2026 calendar itself got cut short too, with Michigan’s team championship scrapped and the Indianapolis purse dropped by nearly half. NUCLR’s report also lays out what LIV 2.0 might look like:

“LIV 2.0’s proposed structure involves 40 players across 10 teams, with 50 additional players added to each field in an open format,” they added. “90-man fields with $7–9M purses. A cut for the bottom 30 players each week.” That lines up with earlier reporting: a 10-event calendar, split evenly between international team majors and Signature Events, with prize money falling from around $30 million a stop to roughly $15 million.

These departures would compound LIV’s mounting financial crisis. The breakaway league has been accused of failing to pay its vendors and contractors, with several companies suing LIV to recover money. Those disputes are just a few of the lawsuits currently hanging over the league. Compounding the financial pressure, the league also recently laid off the majority of its workforce. O’Neil himself has declined to rule out bankruptcy as an option while the league works to close its funding deal.

LIV is also reported to owe players more than $250 million in deferred payments, with Rahm alone accounting for roughly $150 million of that total, though those figures haven’t been independently confirmed by the league. Still, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil has previously claimed that the league has secured a lead investor, reportedly identified as BC Partners. Led by Ted Goldthorpe, BC Partners Credit is considering a $250 million–$350 million loan facility to help finance LIV’s proposed LIV 2.0 model through 2030. However, the deal has yet to be finalized.

One condition is that LIV’s biggest stars, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, commit to remaining with the league beyond the current season. So if NUCLR Golf’s report about Rahm’s potential departure proves accurate, it could present another serious problem for LIV as it attempts to secure the funding it needs.

Rahm leaving would be different from LIV’s earlier departures, mostly because of when it’s happening. PIF has already walked away, losses are north of $1 billion, and the rescue deal LIV is chasing reportedly falls apart if Rahm doesn’t stay. Other players have left before. None of them left at a moment like this.

Under the proposed restructuring, LIV players would also become majority equity holders in the league. None of it is settled yet. Whether Rahm stays, whether the money comes through, whether LIV 2.0 even happens as pitched, all of that gets decided in the coming weeks.