NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — In April 2024, Jon Rahm sat down on the tee at Augusta National, months away from a decision that looked to be an era-defining moment for golf’s pros, and explained how he went from one of the PGA Tour’s most loyal soldiers to LIV Golf’s biggest prize. It was a move that breathed life into the breakaway league at a time when the deal behind the framework appeared to be on the ropes. Both sides had been calcified for more than a year; there had been no major defections, and the stunning announcement of June 6 seemed to signal that unification was somewhere on the horizon.
Then Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, donned a LIV letter jacket and reignited golf’s civil strife. Months later, Rahm arrived at Augusta as the defending champion and said he hoped his seismic move would be the last in golf’s great chess game — one that ended golf’s fracture.
“I understood my position, yes. And I understood that it could be, what I hoped, a step toward some kind of deal,” Rahm said that day at the 2024 Masters. “Or more of a deal or accelerated deal.”
Rahm, like all elite players, is a man who loves control despite playing a game where outcomes often come down to chance, luck or fortune. Schedule, ball flight, recovery, fitness, travel, etc., Rahm is most comfortable dictating it all. This includes narratives, which can be difficult to form no matter how hard you try. That’s where Rahm finds himself now, two and a half years after LIV’s turnaround, with the league faces an uncertain future after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia announced that it will withdraw financial support for the 2026 postseason tour. Rahm’s move never unified professional golf, a goal he now says was never part of his motivation to switch sides.
“I never thought I’d be the kind of weight that would tip the scales to make things come together,” Rahm said Tuesday in the. Aronimink Golf Club before the 2026 PGA Championship. “That was never an argument in my mind. When it was asked if it was the case for people to come together, it would be great. I never made a decision based on that.”
Since his change to LIV, Rahm has shown himself to be the ultimate dichotomy. It’s an internal contrast that may very well define this era of professional golf. He pledged his “loyalty” to the PGA Tour and said “$400 million” would not “change” his life. He then left for LIV and admitted that money was a factor in deciding to “create” a new legacy. He is a two-time major winner who believes he has been judged “unfairly” for his major record. He lives for the Ryder Cup but risked sacrificing it to join LIV Golf. He is a historian of the game whose appreciation for the traditions of golf was equal to his worldly talent. He’s also the man who left all that behind to play 54-hole (now 72-hole) tees. He is thoughtful and introspective in a world that is often shallow and full of privilege. That made him different. This is also why his LIV move was a shock to the system.
On Tuesday, as LIV Golf tries to find a way to extend its life past this season, Rahm was faced with that initial choice — one that seemed at odds with who he had shown himself to be.
“We all go back. We all think about what could have been and what could not have been. It’s inevitable,” Rahm said. “Whatever decision or choice you made was thought out and made for what you think are the right reasons, there’s no point dwelling on it. In fact, you shouldn’t really be unhappy about it. At least there’s nothing to regret.
“If the terms change afterwards, as happened with LIV, that things changed a bit, it’s an afterthought, not a problem by choice.”
This choice has led Rahm to reach major companies surrounded by uncertainty. He was not a factor in any of the 2024 championships. After a non-competitive, backdoor top-10 at the 2025 Masters, the buzz about Rahm, his decision to join LIV and how it has affected his game grew louder. He heard her. He read it. Then came last year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where Rahm made a charge on Sunday to tie Scottie Scheffler on the back nine before splitting on the Green Mile. Despite the collapse, Rahm described it Sunday as the “most fun” he’d had on a golf course in a long time.
That was the product of being in the real big championship race again, the adrenaline that comes from being on the cusp of a lifelong goal and learning that things aren’t always what they seem — an almost daily lesson in the current golf universe.
“It was really fun to be out there in today’s landscape where as players at LIV we hear a lot of things from articles, from social media, from comments,” Rahm said at Aronimink. “While I understand why things are said, it’s something you have to face. That Sunday, playing against Scottie, she has the upper hand and to feel the support and love from the crowd is what made it really enjoyable. Realizing that sometimes the truth is very different from what (it’s) made out to be. The public, unlike what I ever read.”
Perhaps it was also a reminder of what life was like—and might have continued to be—if a different path had been taken. As if Rahm’s choices didn’t lead him to a place he admits has been filled with lessons.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and all we can do is learn from things that have happened in the past good and bad,” Rahm said. “Just speculating about what he could have done, what could have been different, doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Ultimately, your life is the sum of your choices. Every decision has consequences. Big leads to growth. Rahm said 2025 was a year to do that, both on and off the course. They also teach you about yourself. Rahm is no different. That life-changing, career-defining choice left its mark; what it was remains to be seen.
“That’s for me to know, and that’s it,” Rahm said, smiling, when asked what he had learned by looking back on his initial decision about LIV.
Maybe one day — and maybe even Sunday, with him holding the Wanamaker Trophy — Jon Rahm will reveal his secret, and we can all start wondering what will happen next instead of what might have been.
;)
