It's claimed Jon Rahm is willing to do just about anything to return to the PGA Tour - even if it means giving up the millions of dollars he received for joining LIV Golf .
According to one “veteran tour insider,” Rahm has begun to have second thoughts regarding his defection to the Saudi-backed league. “I am 100 percent positive that if Jon could give the money back to the Saudis and come back to the tour, he couldn't write the check fast enough,” the anonymous source told Golf Digest .
It wasn’t long ago that Rahm shined as one of the up-and-coming superstars on the PGA Tour. The Spaniard amassed over $70 million in career earnings while playing on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, holding the esteemed World No. 1 title for over 50 weeks. Among his 11 PGA wins included the 2023 Masters and 2021 U.S. Open .
Since joining LIV Golf in 2023, however, Rahm has hardly achieved the same success on the greens and fairways - nor has he received the same attention from golf fans. “Now there are only four times a year when he's playing that anybody is remotely interested,” the insider added. “He thought his stature in the game was secure no matter where he was playing, and it was a bad miscalculation.”
Barring last month’s British Open - in which Rahm tied for seventh place at 3-under - the 29-year-old had struggled mightily in this year's majors. He barely snuck over the cutline at the Masters en route to finishing T45, missed the cut in the PGA Championship and was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Open with a foot infection.
Ahead of the Open Championship, ex-European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley speculated that Rahm’s previous poor showings could be due to his unhappiness with LIV Golf, which was rumored to sign him for upwards of $500 million last December.
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“He’s not on the cutting edge the way he was,” McGinley said. “His performances in majors are showing that. I don’t think he’s in a happy place; he doesn’t look content on the golf course.”
Rahm struggled out the gate in 2024, as he failed to win any of the first 10 LIV Golf events of the season but tied for third in Adelaide and Nashville. Last month, he secured a first place finish in LIV Golf UK at JCB Golf & Country Club, marking the eighth consecutive year in which he’s won a tournament.
Over the last several months, Rahm has not been shy when it comes to suggesting improvements for LIV Golf. Back in April, he took aim at the event format, insisting the circuit’s top brass should change the 54-hole tournaments with a shotgun start to 72. “The closer we can get LIV to do some of these things, the better,” Rahm said.
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