Masters champ quits over LIV 2.0’s ‘unacceptable’ terms
Former world No.1 Jon Rahm will exit LIV Golf after rejecting the “unacceptable” terms of the so-called LIV 2.0.
After the Saudi Arabian PIF pulled its funding for the league in April, the organisation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in September.
Jon Rahm will exit LIV Golf after rejected the league’s new terms. Getty Images
LIV chief executive Scott O’Neil then went on the hustings to pitch LIV 2.0, chasing as much as $430 million of investment. He has reportedly secured funding from US-based credit and lending agent BC Partners Credit, although it’s unclear how much funding has been committed.
Under LIV 2.0, competition and prize pools would be significantly scaled back, and the ownership would be radically overhauled to give equity ownership of both the league and its teams.
“Mr. Rahm has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0 as the parties have been referring to it, and has determined that those terms are unacceptable as to him, and he will not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0,” Rahm's lawyer John Beck told a bankruptcy court on Wednesday.
He later revealed LIV and Rahm are "in advanced discussions for a consensual separation agreement", which they hope will be finalised by November 5.
LIV players are collectively owed around $65 million. Rahm is owned the most – about $11 million.
Rahm was arguably the highest-profile name to sign with the rebel tour in December 2023 – eight months after clinching a second Masters title – on a deal worth more than $400 million.
The Spaniard, along with Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka, was offered an olive branch to return to the PGA Tour last December. Only Koepka accepted the deal, and he has spent much of the 2026 season on the PGA Tour.
Rahm won three consecutive season-long individual titles on the LIV Tour.
The BBC reports all LIV players are free to exit the league, regardless of whether or not they had signed multi-year deals.
Lawyers for DeChambeau and Smith also spoke at the hearing to seek clarity on whether or not a rejection of the LIV 2.0 terms constituted a termination of their original contract.
The European PGA Tour is reportedly unwilling to engage with LIV players unless they can provide proof their LIV contract had been terminated.
