Jon Rahm has spoken publicly for the first time since announcing last month that he was leaving LIV Golf. He offered few specifics about his decision, but made clear he would consider a return to the PGA Tour if the right opportunity came along.
The two-time major winner is playing this week at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, the DP World Tour’s second-to-last event of the season. His first tournament since departing LIV has drawn attention not just to his game, but to what comes next.
LIV’s future remains uncertain after its Saudi funding ended and the league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. Rahm said the questions surrounding a possible new version of the circuit had become difficult to overlook.
“There were too many unknowns at the time, and there are still quite a few,” he said in Abu Dhabi. He added that LIV seemed to be moving away from team golf and other features that had defined it, becoming more like a conventional tour. Leaving, he said, “wasn’t really ever much of a consideration, to be honest.”
His explanation—that changes to the team format influenced his decision—may strike some as unconvincing. Still, criticizing a league that paid him hundreds of millions of dollars, especially while it is in bankruptcy proceedings, would hardly be straightforward.
Like many former LIV players, Rahm intends to compete on the DP World Tour in 2027 and play in all four major championships. He has also made no secret of his interest in returning to the PGA Tour.
The Tour is not currently offering an immediate return without penalties, though Rahm has said he would accept terms similar to those given to Brooks Koepka. Koepka left LIV at the start of 2026 through a Returning Member Program. As part of the deal, he gave up player equity for five years, lost eligibility for the 2026 FedEx Cup bonus program and agreed to donate $5 million to charity.
Asked whether he would take the same deal, Rahm said, “Most likely, yeah. Why not? Yeah, but it’s a big if.” He said he doubted the Tour would offer him identical terms, but added that he probably would accept them if it did.
Rahm had been eligible for the same program Koepka used, but it seems unlikely the Tour would offer that route again. Another possibility may be a one-year suspension before he can compete on the PGA Tour. Former Masters champion Patrick Reed chose that path earlier this year.
