Jon Rahm‘s future remains shrouded in mystery. For weeks, bankruptcy reports, funding withdrawals, and questions about who will stay and who will walk have consumed LIV Golf. Plus, the breakaway league reportedly owes him a hefty sum, making him its biggest creditor. Yet the Spaniard himself has said almost nothing. That changed ahead of the BMW Duty Free Irish Open, a DP World Tour stop where Rahm addressed his LIV Golf future. True to his nature, his answer kept everyone speculating.
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When BBC Sport NI’s Stephen Watson bluntly asked Rahm about whether he is certain about his future with the league, Rahm dodged the question. “Yes and no, it hasn’t really changed from my last interview in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. There’s just a lot of things in place, right? There’s a lot of things that could happen, and it’s one of those things where time’s gonna tell.”
No definite yes or no. Just an answer that opened a door to limitless possibilities. When Watson pushed his luck, asking if Rahm would want a pathway back to the PGA Tour, he offered another cryptic answer redirecting to his current contract with LIV.
“Well, you know, I still have a contract with LIV 1.0 that I’m more than willing to fulfill. So, like I said, time will tell.” That still doesn’t answer the question. With no clarity on Rahm’s contract or its details, there’s no confirmed report of when his contract will end. Even after he completes it, there’s still no certainty about his future with the league. Watson tried a third time to get a clear answer, but Rahm dodged the question once again.
When asked whether he would return to the PGA Tour if LIV shuts down, Rahm said with a chuckle, “We’ll see what happens.” By now, all the possibilities had been explored, yet the answer was the same. The most telling part of Rahm’s response isn’t what he confirmed; it’s what he avoided.
More specifically, his answer was framed around ‘LIV 1.0,’ his current deal, rather than committing to whatever ‘LIV 2.0’ turns out to be. It perhaps suggests Rahm sees his obligation tied to the contract he signed, but not necessarily to the league’s next version.
Notably, when LIV wobbled, Rahm created a second option by settling a fines dispute with the DP World Tour. The PGA Tour, however, is a different story. Whether that door opens for him remains a question, as he said.
Interestingly, Rahm also added in the BBC interview: “To be fair for us people that joined LIV, I’m pretty good at dealing with turbulence.”
What does he mean by turbulence? LIV has filed for bankruptcy protection. But there is more to it. Rahm and his wife, Kelley Cahill, are expecting their fourth baby soon. It is unlikely that his family will be able to travel with him in overseas LIV Golf events.
In a separate development, Flushing It, a social media account with well-placed sources inside LIV, reported that Jon Rahm has already left the Whatsapp group chat of LIV Golf pros. In fact, Rahm reportedly exited the chat a good two weeks before the Indianapolis event concluded the season.
Rahm sounded disinterested in talking about the Team Championship win. The former U.S. Open winner instead said he was excited about getting a new haircut. As for his LIV contract holding him back, it dates back to December 2023, when he left the PGA Tour for a reported $300-$350 million deal.
It was later revealed that the contract was backloaded, meaning the bulk of his money was scheduled to arrive closer to the contract’s end rather than upfront. Rahm has even been candid about not fully understanding fine print either.
“I have very few talents in my life, and reading a contract or a business is not two of them,” he said earlier this year.
Rahm’s contract now sits inside a genuinely messy situation. As reported by the Financial Times, LIV Golf has offered players three settlement paths: payout at a fraction of what’s owed in exchange for signing on to a scaled-down LIV 2.0; a similar reduced payout, but with a clean break from the league entirely; or refuse the settlement and instead fight for the full amount as a creditor in bankruptcy court.
Well, none of those options appeal to Rahm. Any option likely means accepting pennies on the dollar. And that also explains why he has chosen his words so carefully.
Moreover, this ambiguity isn’t new. Back in July, Rahm was similarly non-committal when asked if he’d still be in LIV in 2027, saying only that he knew “a lot of what’s going on” but couldn’t share it.
By mid-August, Golf Digest reported that talk of a PGA Tour return was premature, with Rahm’s future described as ambiguous. Meanwhile, his relationship with the DP World Tour has actually improved.
Since settling his fines, he has made his way back to the circuit, restoring his Ryder Cup eligibility. He is also confirmed to be playing the BMW PGA Championship next year, along with events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai later in the year.
Now, as the LIV star remains conflicted, the league’s CEO, Scott O’Neill, has been careful not to sound desperate, even though the league clearly needs its stars to stay. He pitched LIV 2.0 as a player-owned model built around equity.
Naturally, he said, “Without the players, that becomes very difficult,” adding that he was confident he would land a critical mass of the right players.
Whether Rahm counts himself among them is still unclear. For now, all anyone really has is what Rahm gave at the Irish Open: a dodge, a nod to his existing contract, and a phrase: time will tell.