Jon Rahm’s time at LIV Golf is now officially over – and his separation agreement makes for interesting reading…
Jon Rahm will not play in the new iteration of LIV Golf after rejecting the new terms proposed to him by the breakaway league, and court documents have revealed the Spaniard is leaving big money on the table.
Rahm’s representative confirmed during a bankruptcy on October 7 that his time as a LIV player was over. The two-time major champion had eschewed questions over his future in recent weeks before LIV’s bankruptcy went through the courts, stating he has been willing to fulfil his ‘LIV 1.0 contract.’
But with the league now entering a new era without the backing of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), Rahm has made it clear he will not be part of LIV 2.0.
And it has now emerged as part of Rahm’s separation agreements that he will release all his “monetary and “economic” claims against the league.
Rahm was owed $7.5m as one of the league’s biggest creditors when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and was rumored to still be owed up to $100m from his original deal. As part of his exit agreement, though, he will go ahead with a “complete economic walkaway”.
The new agreement, subject to approval at a November 5 hearing, states that Rahm will regain control of his NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) rights. He will aso gain control of the intellectual property of Legion XIII, his LIV franchise, but court documents stipulate Rahm will not be able to use the name if he joins TGL, the indoor golf league that is affiliated with the PGA Tour.
Rahm stunned the game when joining LIV in December 2023 for a reported $450m, wearing a black letterman jacket at his surreal unveiling on Fox News alongside the former chief executive Greg Norman. At the time, he suggested he could be the catalyst for bringing the fractured sport back together as the war with the PGA Tour raged on.
That was at a juncture when LIV’s momentum had slowed down and the league was no longer regularly poaching high-profile players from the PGA Tour, only six months after a “framework agreement” was signed between LIV’s owners and the traditional tours. But a coming together never materialised, with Rahm ploughing his own furrow on LIV while frozen out from the PGA Tour for the past three seasons.
He has earned north of $100m in total prize money on the LIV circuit, winning the league’s individual title in each of his three seasons with the league. During that same period, he made 11 major starts, finishing inside the top-10 four times and missing two cuts.
Doubts began to emerge about Rahm’s future as soon as the PIF announced in April it would be pulling its funding. The Spaniard, who lives in Arizona, may now be required to play a full season on the DP World Tour before he is allowed to return to the PGA Tour.
LIV players are required to serve a one-year suspension before rejoining the US circuit, meaning Rahm would be free to return in August 2027. And Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s CEO, has said he has no intention of bringing back the program which enabled Brooks Koepka an immediate return from LIV.