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LIV Golf is set to confirm with its players that it will no longer be funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund at the end of 2026.
The tour will seek new investment for next season and beyond, but this will prove challenging given the significant financial losses reported in past years.
That leaves the future of LIV players, such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, clouded in uncertainty. Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour this year, and DeChambeau and Rahm were offered the same off-ramp, but neither accepted it.
Rahm, in particular, has burned bridges across the golfing landscape due to his ongoing feud with the DP World Tour. He was the only player to reject a deal that would have allowed him to maintain his membership as a LIV player.
This means his eligibility for the Ryder Cup next year is in doubt, which Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose have been critical of. They want Rahm to put his pride aside and put Team Europe first.
So, how do PGA Tour players feel about a Rahm return if LIV Golf folds? Their feelings mean it’s not likely to be an option for the two-time major winner.
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PGA Tour players still unhappy with how Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf
Rahm was a late jumper to LIV Golf. He didn’t leave the PGA Tour at the same time as DeChambeau or Koepka. Instead, he moved a year later in 2023, which was a massive boost for the then-Saudi-backed league.
At the time, LIV Golf and the PGA Tour were in the midst of negotiating a framework agreement for coexistence, but Rahm’s signing gave LIV the leverage it needed to end those talks, and that still sits with PGA Tour players.
A report from Golf Digest’s Joel Beall read, “The view from players and from Ponte Vedra is narrow and consistent: Rahm’s exit at the end of 2023 may have prolonged the conflict by a full year.
“LIV was on the ropes. The framework agreement was advancing. Then Rahm crossed over, delivered the Saudi circuit the validation it was running out of time to find, and the tour was caught flat-footed.
“Should LIV collapse in 2027, Rahm’s only option may be a humbled return to the DP World Tour—assuming a door is still open at all.”
So Rahm may have to swallow his pride and agree to the DP World Tour’s deal for next season, or risk being left out in the cold.
Bryson DeChambeau ‘open’ to PGA Tour changes
Shortly after the news that the PIF was withdrawing funding for LIV Golf, DeChambeau stated that as long as the tour exists, he’d find a way to make it work. But he was unhappy with LIV Golf’s change to a 72-hole format, saying it wasn’t what he signed up for.
And according to Beall, he’s open to the changes that PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is making.
Beall wrote, “A return to the PGA Tour, the antitrust litigation aside, also presents complications. He has previously described feeling out of place there, restricted by regulations he found at odds with his approach.
“He is reportedly open to the changes Rolapp has introduced—and the Athletic reported earlier this month that DeChambeau’s representatives have reached out to explore his options—though that openness is conditional.”
Rolapp plans to revamp the PGA Tour schedule, moving away from the Signature Event model and instead replacing it with around 20 events of equal value. That’s not too dissimilar to the LIV format.
Those plans have landed well in the DeChambeau camp, so perhaps he’s more open to a return than was once assumed.
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