Jon Rahm is to quit LIV Golf due to the “unacceptable” terms offered for the proposed relaunch of the breakaway series.
LIV is going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrew support at the end of the season having spent $5bn (£3.7bn) in four years.
While Sergio Garcia and others were successful in petitioning the court to lift the automatic stay on their contracts, in effect freeing them up to pursue other opportunities next year, Rahm was not afforded the same escape.
The Spaniard is one of LIV’s two biggest names – Bryson DeChambeau the other – and is reported to be owed up to $150m (£113m) for the remainder of the contract he signed almost three years ago.
“Mr Rahm has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0 … and has determined that those terms are unacceptable to him, and he will not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0,” the former world No1’s attorney, John Beck, told a bankruptcy hearing. The Athletic also reported Beck told the court Rahm and LIV are working to finalise a separation agreement by 15 October.
Rahm withdrew from this week’s Open de España in Madrid in order to remain at home as his wife, Kelley, is expecting their fourth child.
In May, the 31-year-old backed down in his dispute with the DP World Tour and paid around £2.21m in fines for playing in competing events, giving him conditional releases for 2026 and making him eligible for the Ryder Cup.
He previously opted not to take the PGA Tour’s offer of reinstatement via a specially drawn-up returning member program created in January and applicable to only him, Cam Smith, DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka – the only player who accepted the offer.
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As a result, Rahm would have to serve a mandatory one-year suspension, up until late August next year, before he could return to the American circuit.
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