Jon Rahm and LIV Golf are no more.
The former World No. 1 reached a separation agreement with the breakaway league on Wednesday, marking a near-official end to his tenure less than three years after his high-profile signing. If and when the separation agreement is approved by Judge Michael B. Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey on Nov. 5, Rahm will be free to play anywhere he can get a spot, while LIV will be free of its largest unsecured creditor.
The hundred-million-dollar question, then: what happens to the massive sums of money still owed to Rahm? LIV’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings revealed Rahm was owed $7.5 million just from a single period, a small percentage of what was reportedly more than $100 million in current and future payments left on his deal.
Per this agreement, those debts will vanish into the wind.
The split is significant for both sides. When Rahm signed with LIV he was the reigning Masters champ and inarguably one of the few best players in the world; he immediately became LIV’s best player and went on to win each of the league’s three subsequent seasonlong individual titles. Rahm was handsomely remunerated for his skills, signing an initial contract worth more than $300 million (specific figures were never released) and earning more than $100 million in prize money across his three seasons.
But the league outlook — and arithmetic — changed when its financial backers, the Saudi PIF, suddenly pulled back funding earlier this year. LIV stumbled to the finish of its season, canceling events, filing for bankruptcy and letting go the majority of its workforce, but new investors have been working diligently to assemble a vision for “LIV 2.0” to launch for 2027.
Rahm’s lawyer John Beck made it clear that he won’t be part of that effort; Beck said last week that Rahm had studied the new league’s offer “and has determined that those terms are unacceptable to him.” And so here we are.
What does Rahm get back from LIV? For golf fans, the biggest news is his freedom to play elsewhere. That has raised plenty of speculation about the potential he’d play the DP World Tour next season — plus questions about when and how the PGA Tour would let him re-join.
Rahm also gets back the rights to his name, image and likeness, including his logo (the “Rahmbo mark”) plus the logo to his Legion XIII team, though interestingly the deal specifies Rahm can’t use that Legion XIII in another golf league like TGL. (That would have seemed unlikely for a number of other reasons.)
As for what LIV gets from Rahm? Freedom from its debts, mostly. Rahm will have no further claim against the league or its affiliates. He also has no further equity in his Legion XIII team, which he launched as captain of the league’s expansion 13th team and was a part-owner. Rahm was listed as its largest unsecured creditor; now he’ll be off their books.
The league’s future remains in flux. Several players have joined Rahm in expressing their intentions to leave. And at a hearing on Wednesday, LIV’s lawyers said they expected to know by the end of the month whether they’ll be pressing on with the current vision for LIV 2.0 or winding down.
Rahm’s separation agreement will become final if approved by Kaplan on Nov. 5, the same day he’s expected to play his next competitive round; the Abu Dhabi Championship begins that week. He’s expected to finish his season the following week at the DP World Tour Championship.
We’ll see what comes next.
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