Jon Rahm walked off Aronimink on Sunday evening as the runner-up to Aaron Rai at the 2026 PGA Championship, three shots back of the new English major champion. It was the kind of finish that, for almost any other elite player, would frame a celebratory week. For Rahm, it framed the central contradiction of his career.
The two-time major champion played some of the most impressive golf of his year at Aronimink. He eagled the par-4 second hole in the opening round, surged into a tie for second after a third-round 67, and birdied the first two holes on Sunday to immediately tie the lead. His own assessment of his form was unusually direct.
Rahm said his ball striking this year feels as good as any season since 2021 — widely considered the year he reached his absolute competitive peak. He framed the only remaining gap as one of conversion: turning what he feels in the swing into what the scoreboard finally shows. For a player whose 2021 produced a US Open title and a stretch of dominance at the top of the world rankings, it is a striking comparison to draw in May 2026.
But the same player who said all of that also offered a much more uncomfortable assessment of his contractual situation. Asked directly before the PGA Championship about the years remaining on his LIV Golf deal, Rahm was unusually blunt. He said he had several years left on the contract and was "pretty sure they did a pretty good job when they drafted it." He added that he did not "see many ways out" and was, as of right now, not really thinking about it.
That answer landed differently in May than it would have at any other point in the LIV era. On April 30, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund — LIV's sole financial backer since the league's launch — announced it would withdraw its funding after the 2026 season. The unlimited runway that had underwritten guaranteed contracts, $30 million purses and a fleet of private jets is being switched off.
The PGA Tour, sensing the shift in leverage, unveiled what CEO Brian Rolapp called a returning member program earlier in 2026. It offered a defined, performance-based pathway back for players who had been away from the tour for at least two years and who had won a major between 2022 and 2025. Only four LIV players qualified: Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Rahm. Koepka took it. The other three passed. The window closed on February 2, and the tour has indicated the program is not expected to be renewed.
Rahm has since constructed what amounts to a second escape hatch. On May 5, days before the PGA Championship, he announced a conditional agreement with the DP World Tour, settling roughly £3 million in outstanding fines and committing to a minimum of four DP World Tour events outside of the majors. The immediate motivation was Ryder Cup eligibility for Adare Manor in 2027. The longer-term motivation, in the eyes of most observers, is the Patrick Reed blueprint: re-establish on the European circuit, climb the Race to Dubai, and use that route to secure a PGA Tour card down the line.
Asked directly whether he regretted leaving the PGA Tour in late 2023, Rahm offered the same line he has given for two years. He said he has never made decisions by looking backwards and has never approached any choice in his life by thinking about what he would do differently if he had known the outcome.
For now, the two-time major champion is a 31-year-old playing the best ball striking of his life on a league whose business model is being dismantled around him. His contract holds. His leverage does not. And the route back, by his own admission, isn't clear yet.
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*Originally published on [Golf News Global](https://golfnews.global/article/jon-rahm-no-way-out-liv-contract-2021-ball-striking-pga-championship-runner-up). Visit for full coverage.*
