Last year in June, during the final round of LIV Golf Nashville, Jon Rahm stepped on the sixth tee at The Grove. Just when he was about to hit his shot, a noise allegedly distracted him. And as he swung and hit, the ball went left, splashing into the water. Just then, LIV Golf’s slogan – Golf, but louder – couldn’t have been more accurate. Rahm turned to face the drone and yelled– “Every tournament! It’s f*cking incredible! Right in my backswing! F*cking drones every time!” In fact, him cursing was nothing new. At LIV, he practically began with a strong showing and some choices of words at the Mayakoba event in February, his very first in the Saudi-backed league. And it happened again barely a few weeks down the road, this time in his native language.

At the LIV Golf Andalucía tournament in July, the Spaniard’s first Spanish event since he left PGA, things did not go as well as he would’ve hoped. After wrapping up day 1 with 2-over 73, he improved the next day. But only to have another horrible finish– A 2-under 69 while trying to make his fifth birdie of the day on the final hole. Missing the very gettable putt, he had some thoughts to share– “El puto día entero igual. Me cago en Dios!” loosely translating to “Jesus f*cking Christ!” Now, although Rahm is searching for a win in LIV this year, showing quite a drastic shift from his former World No. 1 self, a ranking he held for 52 weeks days, he has not refrained from showing his frustration on the field.

This time, it was in the final round, punctuated by weather delays. Rahm was 4 shots behind the surprise leader Graeme McDowell at under 9, when he swung the ball into the left bunkers on the long par-5. And in yet another hot mic moments during the LIV Golf Virginia event, Rahm became the victim again.

At the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Flushing It tweeted Rahm’s reaction at the 14th hole with the caption, “This is one of the clearest hot mics I’ve ever heard from Rahm! 😂” In the clip, the 30-year-old yelled as he hit the ball, “F*ck you… Get there! Three days in a row. You absolute f*cking m*ron.” With the Spaniard only 4 shots behind at T8, it’ll be interesting if he can bring out his best self out and turn the tides for himself and his team. As for the cursing, well, he isn’t alone in this.

Players Lucas Herbert and Ian Poulter have also been caught in the swearing action. Recently, on June 7th at the LIV Golf Houston, Herbert dropped a massive ‘F’ bomb when he missed a birdie at the par-4 third hole in the first round. Just like Rahm, Poulter also had an oops moment when he was caught cursing by the hole mics. Seemingly disturbed by a fan while making his shot, he said “F*cking pr*ck” out of frustration.

So far, by the looks of it, the purpose of hot mics seems to be somewhat at odds with player interests. It shows a very raw and private side of the players that they might like to keep personal. And with that, Jon Rahm’s explicit behavior has given rise to speculations of his dissatisfaction at LIV Golf.

Jon Rahm’s future in LIV Golf

Rahm is one of the players that LIV Golf pulled in with a huge paycheck. Reportedly, Rahm has signed a contract of $500 million with LIV Golf and the contractual period is speculated to be 4 years. But not even one year in, whispers were making rounds. One of the revelations of dissatisfaction came in the Global Golf Post by Jim Nugent.

In his letter, Nugent claimed big players like Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau are unhappy with their decision to leave the PGA Tour. While Koepka has expressed his plan to leave LIV Golf after his contract period ends, Rahm has denied all speculations and said they were false and misleading.  

“I don’t know why they feel the need to say that some of us are unhappy when we’re not. It’s one of the things that frustrates me a little bit, the fact that they can claim that there’s a source and there’s zero truth to it,” he said in an interview. He went on to say that he was very comfortable with his decision and is very excited for the future of his team, Legion XIII team and LIV Golf.

Even though the player has denied the speculations, it is said that there is some truth to it, too. In August 2024, a veteran PGA Tour Insider who remained anonymous told Golf Insider that Rahm was so unhappy with life at LIV that he would return immediately if the opportunity arose. In the report, the veteran said, “I am 100 percent positive that if Jon could give the money back to the Saudis and come back to the tour, he couldn’t write the check fast enough.” However, the truth remains a mystery. What’s not, are Rahm’s reactions.