Jon Rahm edging closer to $18m pay day despite LIV Golf 'regret'

Jon Rahm is closing in on a major $18million LIV Golf payday despite claims that he would jump at a return to the PGA Tour having regretted joining the breakaway organization.

The Spaniard shunned the PGA to join the Saudi-backed tour in a deal worth $500m as LIV’s headline signing during the off-season. Rahm could be about to win the players’ championship having climbed to the summit after almost sealing back-to-back tour victories.

Following LIV Golf Greenbrier, only two players are still in the running after Rahm finished second and Chilean Joaquin Niemann T15. The bridge between current leader Rahm and third-placed Tyrrell Hatton is 51.68 points, and with 40 standing points awarded for a victory, it’s firmly a two-horse race. The gap between the top two is just 2.97 – meaning victory could be decided even in the minor finishing places.

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Rahm and Niemann have already guaranteed themselves at least $8million with the second-place prize money already banked. Though both will have their eyes on the $18m prize for finishing on top of the standings.

Ahead of the tournament at The Greenbrier in West Virgina, golf reporter Jaime Diaz claimed that Rahm would give back his Saudi millions to return to the PGA Tour. “I am 100 per cent 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," Diaz claimed in Golf Digest.

"Now there are only four times a year when he’s playing that anybody is remotely interested. He thought his stature in the game was secure no matter where he was playing, and it was a bad miscalculation.”

Meanwhile, the battle for third, which Hatton currently holds, sees just 17 points separate third and seventh, with Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Camron Smith and Brooks Koepka all in the picture to land the $4m bonus.

Below third, the goal remains for some players to lock in a top 24 finish which will guarantee them a place in the 2025 season. Beyond that, players finishing between 25th and 48th will be in the Open Zone, where players with expiring contracts can either be re-signed by their team or picked up by another.

At the foot of the table, others will be playing for their place in LIV as they look to avoid the Drop Zone. Players who finish 49th or lower will be relegated – unless their contracts state otherwise - and quality for the 2024 LIV Golf Promotions tournament for a final chance to retain their status.