Golf insider claims Jon Rahm destined for legal battle with LIV over contract dispute

Golf reporter and author Alan Shipnuck has suggested Jon Rahm is likely heading for a legal battle with LIV if the league survives and reduces tournament purses. 

The future of the breakaway tour has been thrown into doubt after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund confirmed it is no longer willing to finance the venture beyond the end of the 2026 season.

LIV officials now face a race against time to try and raise enough funds to keep the league going in 2027.

It has been reported that LIV have begun pitches to investors. They are seeking $250m and believe they can be profitable within 20 months. 

But earlier in the week, AXIOS reported that LIV are laying the groundwork for a potential bankruptcy filing in the United States.

Shipnuck told the latest edition of the Dan on Golf show that he's not overreacting to that news. 

The biggest headache LIV may face though, he explained, is over players' contracts. 

Shipnuck claimed that it's not clear whether Rahm's contract is with LIV Golf or the aforementioned PIF. 

"One agent said [to me], if it's with the PIF and they divest, we think the contract is voided no matter what," Shipnuck told the pod. 

"But of course, LIV is saying that the contract's with LIV Golf. And so it doesn't matter where the money's coming from. It's with the league. So that's one wrinkle. It's a complete scramble."

He added: "No one knows what this means. Like if LIV endures, but the schedule is 10 tournaments and the purses are $10m, [the players will say] that's not what we signed up for. That's not what's in the contract. We think it'd be voided at that point. 

"So even if LIV goes on, this is probably heading towards a legal battle for the Rahms and anyone else who wants to get out of their contract. 

"Because they have very specific language and there's no way there's gonna be $30m purses next year."

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Rahm addressed his future in light of LIV Golf's funding crisis before last week's PGA Championship. 

The Spaniard bounced back from a poor performance at the 2026 Masters with a runner-up finish to England's Aaron Rai at Aronimink. 

During his pre-tournament news conference, Rahm was asked whether or not he regretted his decision to join LIV after it was announced the PIF was turning off the spigot. 

The two-time major champion said: "I would say I've made a lot of decisions in my life and I've never gone back thinking 'Oh, had I known this again, I would do X and Y different'.

"If I lived my life like that as a golfer, I would be a very pessimistic person."

Rahm said he did not envy the task LIV officials face but believes they will find a solution. 

"I have faith in the work that they're doing," he said. "I have faith that they're going to come up with a good plan.

"Until that plan is explained to us, I don't think I need to add any attention to it."

Rahm said he was lucky it was his job to just play golf and not worry about fixing LIV. 

"Out of the few talents I have in my life, fixing a business is not one of them. I might be the worst person for that," he said. 

"My job is to play golf, luckily. I'm decent at it. And that's what I can focus on.

"It's the people in charge of LIV, whose job I do not envy for a second, it's their job to fix it."

Rahm was arguably the highest-profile player to join LIV when he left the PGA Tour in December 2023. 

He remains banned from the PGA Tour and previously rejected an offer to return to the circuit under a returning member programme that Brooks Koepka took advantage of. 

Although he is blacklisted from the North American circuit, Rahm is eligible to play in the Scottish Open this summer. 

The tournament, played a week before The Open, is co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour. 

A spokesperson for the PGA Tour confirmed to GolfMagic that Rahm wouldn't be eligible for PGA Tour membership even if he wins at The Renaissance Club.