It is December 2023, and Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf for a rumored $300 million. The Spaniard made this decision despite pledging his fealty to the PGA Tour. It rightfully shocked everyone, not least because Rahm arrived at that moment as arguably the most respected man in a fractured sport, a 2021 U.S. Open champion who’d sealed the win with a walk-off 18-foot birdie putt, and a Masters winner less than two years later. He’d been world No. 1. Golf hadn’t seen a player this dominant defect to LIV before. But who knew two years later, LIV Golf would be on life support?

At that time, Rahm was seen as the one unifier in the game. Maybe he could bring the two divided worlds of golf together. Moreover, the PGA Tour was exploring a potential merger with LIV Golf, so it wasn’t an impossibility. But we all know how that turned out.

Rahm’s LIV Golf induction did nothing to repair the damage. It probably made it bigger. Two years later, it seems that fate has given Rahm another responsibility: to save LIV Golf. First reported by Ryan of Monday Q Golf, and since corroborated by Golf Digest’s Alan Shipnuck, who reported that roughly a third of Rahm’s deal was paid upfront as a signing bonus, it appears Rahm signed a backloaded contract with LIV. This leaves him in a bigger dilemma than his team ever expected, and, tellingly, Rahm himself has admitted he doesn’t fully understand the terms. Asked in May what it would take to exit his contract, he said flatly, “I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you.”

83% of our readers couldn't break par yesterday

Changing winds, tricky bunkers, and quirky breaks test every shot. Beat par, compare scores, and return tomorrow for a new challenge.

TEE OFF HERE↗

Because of the nature of the payment, the breakaway circuit still owes the two-time major champion around $150 million. To be noted, Rahm has earned approximately $98 million from on-course LIV earnings. And yet, it doesn’t fulfill his contract clause. So now what? If LIV files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, full liquidation, Rahm’s claim gets thrown in with every other unsecured creditor the league owes, from fellow golfers down to the vendors who set up grandstands and sell hot dogs at events, and he may never see the $150 million.

But if LIV instead pursues a Chapter 11 restructuring, he could get equity stakes in one of LIV’s 13 teams equaling the remaining amount, though a bankruptcy attorney who spoke to Golf Digest noted the league could also use bankruptcy purely as leverage to void or renegotiate contracts like Rahm’s without a court forcing its hand. Given the uncertain circumstances (more so after LIV sent a 30-day termination notice to some of its employees), it seems increasingly difficult for LIV to survive the Public Investment Fund’s sudden withdrawal.

The PIF has poured more than $5 billion into LIV since the league launched in 2022 and has confirmed it will stop funding at the end of this season. Rahm won’t be the only one with his money at risk, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson are each owed roughly $125 million on their own contracts, and Phil Mickelson, who has played just one event this year, is tied to a $200 million deal, so the value of outstanding star contracts alone runs well into the hundreds of millions, separate from the $250-300 million LIV is now trying to raise just to keep operating into 2027. The league has not officially responded to golfers about the fate of their contracts.

But the news has caused enough disruption in the golf world yet again.

Jon Rahm questioned over diabolical LIV decision

When athletes sign a contract, they are given many options: either they take everything upfront or in installments. But what Jon Rahm chose was to get the bigger part of his alleged $300 million contract towards the expiration date. Now, as LIV Golf may fold before his contract term is up, it’s baffling to understand why someone like Rahm would agree to such a deal when he was aware of LIV’s financial losses even then. Rahm’s own explanation, given at LIV Virginia in May, doesn’t inspire much confidence: “I have very few talents in my life, and reading a contract or business are not two of them.”

Given the shock of such a decision, one fan commented, “Why on earth would he backload a contract to a brand new league.”

Another user was reminded about the Spaniard’s confession as they said, “So this seems to reinforce Rahm’s own statement that he ‘knows absolutely nothing about business and contracts.'” When Rahm was asked why he isn’t helping LIV court new investors the way Bryson DeChambeau has, he told the media, “I know nothing about business. I’m never going to claim to know anything about business.” And it rings true.

The sentiment runs common among fans, as another noted how Rahm couldn’t have made a worse decision. “Backloaded? Wow, Rahm was a fool …ruined his reputation and didn’t even get the Judas silver.”

While many criticized the two-time major champ for this oversight, others have empathized with him as well, though still shocked. One individual found Greg Norman, the ex-LIV Chairman, at fault and highlighted his torn relationship with Tiger Woods. They said, “Jon got bad advice. Used and abused by Norman. It’s no wonder Tiger has avoided him for decades.”

Even a PGA Tour spokesman has weighed in on Rahm’s limbo, confirming plainly that he “is still under contract with LIV Golf” and remains ineligible for Tour membership as a result, meaning even a U.S. Open or Open Championship win this summer wouldn’t restore the status he gave up in 2023. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee put it more bluntly on the Talking Golf podcast, predicting Rahm would have to pay “tens of millions of dollars” to buy his way back to the PGA Tour, on top of whatever penance a reconciliation tribunal demands, the same process that cost Brooks Koepka a $5 million charity donation.

LIV Golf has issued a funding appeal targeting $300 million by September 1, though CEO Scott O’Neil, who took over the role in January 2025, has indicated the league believes it can sustain itself with as little as $250 million. Even if LIV survives the financial storm, Rahm may not get his $150 million in cash, as it will more likely take the shape of equity stakes in LIV 2.0’s team structure.

New York Post reporting suggests LIV is close to securing around $250 million in fresh investment in the coming weeks, which insiders believe would be enough to buy the league another year. Bankruptcy attorneys who spoke to Golf Digest noted the maneuver carries real risk for LIV too: under Chapter 11, the league would either have to find the cash to honor Rahm’s deal or cancel his contract outright, and losing its most valuable asset could hasten the very collapse it’s trying to avoid.

On the European side, Rahm has already settled his standoff with the DP World Tour. After initially refusing to accept six extra tournaments as penance for defecting, the steepest of any LIV defector, he reached a deal on May 5 to pay $300,000 in fines out of pocket in exchange for the Tour lowering his required additional starts from six to five, clearing his path back to that circuit and preserving his Ryder Cup eligibility if LIV folds.

The picture has only gotten murkier since. Bryson DeChambeau’s own LIV contract expires at the end of this season, and few in the game expect him to re-sign. LIV’s season-ending, $40 million Team Championship in Michigan, scheduled for August 27, is now considered a toss-up at best; two-time major winner Martin Kaymer put its odds of happening at “five per cent.” A player meeting is reportedly expected this week at LIV’s Trump Bedminster event, where more clarity on contracts, including Rahm’s, could finally emerge.

The 31-year-old pro has, at least, cleared his own path if LIV folds entirely: with his DP World Tour fines settled and his required starts fulfilled, he has a home to return to. What he still doesn’t have is his $150 million, or any certainty about how, or whether, he’ll ever see it.