LIV star Jon Rahm has a rare chance to win on the PGA Tour this week
While it may not be next year (or even next month), Jon Rahm is currently a LIV Golf player. And this week he has a chance to do something no LIV pro has ever done: win a regular-season PGA Tour event while still playing with LIV.
Since LIV Golf’s inception, its players have been banned from playing in regular PGA Tour events… except for one: the Genesis Scottish Open. A few years ago, the Scottish Open, historically a DP World Tour event, was co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour.
But the DP World Tour is still largely running the show, which means their rules regarding LIV players apply. And as long as a LIV professional maintains his DP World Tour membership, and pays the fines to keep him in good standing, he is allowed to compete in tour events.
That’s the space Rahm is using to play this week, although for him things are a bit weird.
Rahm makes DP World Tour (and PGA Tour) comeback after settling dispute
Although players are automatically banned from the DP World Tour if they sign with LIV Golf, there are consequences. Among the penalties are penalties for playing LIV events in the same week as DP World Tour events.
While many players paid fines to keep their memberships, Rahm initially did not. Instead, he became embroiled in a lengthy dispute and appealed to the DP World Tour over the fine.
Had the dispute not been resolved, even Rahm’s Ryder Cup eligibility for 2027 would have been in jeopardy. But in May, Rahm and the DP World Tour finally reached an agreement to end their standoff.
“There’s no more tension,” Rahm said that week at the LIV event in Virginia. “We were able to reach an agreement. There was consent from both sides. I promised; they extended an olive branch. Obviously we have reached an agreement. That will no longer be a pressure.”
In addition to paying the fines, the deal requires Rahm to compete in five DP World Tour events this season.
Which brings us to this week. Now that Rahm is a “member in good standing” on the DP World Tour, he is playing in the Genesis Scottish Open to prepare for next week’s Open Championship.
“God, it’s so much fun,” Rahm said Tuesday in a press conference before the Scottish Open. “It’s great to be here.”
With a win this week, Rahm can add to his career 10 DP World Tour wins. But because the tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour, he might as well pick up a PGA Tour win this week.
If he does, it will represent his 12th PGA Tour victory, and his first since 2023 when he won the Genesis Invitational and the Masters before leaving LIV Golf before the 2024 season.
And it wouldn’t be a shock, either. Rahm is the third betting favorite going into the event, with odds of around +1300 to win.
That result could provide some confusion in the winner’s circle and on the stat sheets come Sunday.
While Rahm may become the first LIV pro to win a regular-season PGA Tour event this week, two LIV pros have already pulled off a major feat.
The PGA Tour does not run major four-man golf tournaments, but the Tour does, and a major win counts as a PGA Tour win.
Brooks Koepka, who has left LIV and rejoined the PGA Tour, won the 2023 PGA Championship as an LIV Golf pro, extending his career PGA Tour wins to nine. Likewise, Bryson DeChambeau won the 2024 US Open to push his PGA Tour career haul to nine.
