Jon Rahm walks away from LIV Golf 2.0

The biggest name LIV ever signed is out, and Kiz didn't need long to decide where Rahm belongs.

Fore Play

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“Why would that guy not want to be going toe-to-toe with Scottie Scheffler at the PLAYERS Championship?” Jon Rahm is reportedly OUT on LIV Golf 2.0. Kiz weighs in on the future of Rambo & the new league.

Here's how it went down. LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 on September 8, and on Wednesday, October 7, Rahm's attorney John Beck stood up at the bankruptcy hearing in New Jersey and said his client "has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0... and has determined that those terms are unacceptable to him, and he will be not be participating going forward." That's the most lawyer way possible to say a 2-time major champion is done. Beck said the 2 sides are now working out a separation agreement.

It's a long way from December 2023, when Rahm jumped to LIV on a reported $300 million deal and became the face of the whole project. Now LIV is reportedly in bankruptcy court owing him around $100 million, and he's said to be its largest remaining creditor. He isn't the first Spaniard out the door either. LIV had already released Sergio Garcia from his contract. Losing Rahm right when the league is trying to sell itself to new investors as LIV 2.0 is about as bad as the PR gets.

Kiz's question is the right one, and the answer is that he would love to. It's just not that easy. Rahm passed on the PGA Tour's one-time Returning Member Program, so he can't just walk back onto the Tour. Yahoo Sports reports his likeliest way back looks like Patrick Reed's, which means earning reinstatement through the DP World Tour and international events. He still has his lifetime Masters exemption, so we'll see him at Augusta no matter what. Scheffler at Sawgrass would have to wait.

Then there's the other half of Riggs' question: what does Bryson do? Nobody knows his contract situation for sure. But Bryson has never needed a golf league to get attention. His YouTube operation basically runs its own events, and a couple weeks ago Riggs was laughing on Fore Play about Bryson putting up a 6-figure prize for a backyard games knockout where the last one standing gets to play him.

Fore Play Podcast

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“Good for Bryson. 100k to somebody.” – Riggs

0:23

That's the real problem for LIV 2.0. Without Rahm, the league is pitching investors on a world tour, and its best remaining selling point is a guy who already has his own audience. Riggs asked whether it's even possible without them, and that's the question now. If Bryson walks too, there isn't much LIV left.

What to watch: the separation agreement, which way Rahm goes (DP World Tour or somewhere else), and whether the bankruptcy court shows us who else finds the LIV 2.0 terms unacceptable. Kiz gets his Rahm vs. Scheffler fight at a major in April no matter what. Getting it at the PLAYERS will take more paperwork.