Jon Rahm is among the LIV Golf players with an uncertain future ahead of the loss of its funding from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The PIF will withdraw its funding of LIV Golf at the end of the 2026 season, which is scheduled to continue next week in Washington, D.C.
Two-time major champion Rahm currently leads the individual standings, having clinched back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025.
He was a superstar on the PGA Tour before his switch to LIV Golf, with Dan Rapaport confident of a swift return for the Spaniard if his current tour folds.
Jon Rahm predicted to make swift PGA Tour return if LIV Golf folds
Rapaport commented on Dan on Golf: “The players are all better off, I am not exactly shedding a tear for them.
“The reason they were paid so much is because this was such a risk.
“This was damaging to their brands and they were leaving the established institution that was the PGA Tour.
“They will be back.
“I have no doubt that Jon Rahm will play PGA Tour events in 2028, if not 2027.”
Having initially ruled out a move to LIV Golf in its inaugural season in 2022, the Spaniard made the high-profile switch in December 2023.
Alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith, he has since missed out on an opportunity to come back via the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program, with only Brooks Koepka accepting the offer.
Rahm is an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour, on which he has made 159 starts and has earned $53,650,018.
Dan Rapaport issues bleak verdict on LIV Golf’s future
Six LIV Golf events have already taken place in the 2026 season – two of which have been won by Rahm – with six remaining in the schedule.
But the league and its CEO Scott O’Neil have now been hit with a major blow, with replacement financial investors now set to be required to ensure its future.
That is, however, not looking likely according to Rapaport, who said: “I am sure they are going to try and spin this.
“Scott O’Neil has already been saying that he is sure that they are going to have to go and raise money.
“But good luck with that.
“I think they have lost $5-8 billion depending on who you ask.
“There is not an investor on the planet who is going to be okay losing that.
“This was the thing with the league.
“It was always dependent on one entity being willing to bankroll it.
“The Saudi PIF.
“It’s not a self-sustaining ecosystem and there is a million reasons for that.
“Part of it is how much money they had to pay for the guys to go over.
“Once they got those guys over, they then had to turn it into a real business.
“They failed to do so.
“That’s not me talking that’s the Saudi PIF talking.
“People thought that this would keep going as long as the Saudis want it to and it did.
“But the Saudis have decided that they don’t want to do it any more.”
Huge amounts of money have indeed been spent on bringing players to LIV, and subsequently rewarding them for their efforts.
Rahm has earned around $90million in LIV Golf prize money, but the former world number one’s game has arguably declined by a great deal.
Read more:
What Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are said to have done during LIV Golf player meeting in Mexico
Several players backed to start considering leaving LIV Golf as event’s postponement is confirmed
