Report: Jon Rahm may have to say sorry for LIV Golf move before PGA Tour comeback

Jon Rahm may be asked to show more contrition and accept harsher financial and competitive terms than Brooks Koepka did if he seeks a return to the PGA Tour, according to a report.

Rahm joined LIV Golf in December 2023 on a reported contract running through the end of 2028, but uncertainty over the future of the circuit has raised fresh questions over whether he will remain with the league beyond this season.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has withdrawn its financial support for LIV, which says it has secured an unnamed lead investor to keep the competition running next year.

Some reports have suggested the new investor, understood to be London-based private equity firm BC Partners, wants assurances star players Rahm, 31, and Bryson DeChambeau, 32, will commit their futures to LIV Golf's revamped operation.

DeChambeau has made it clear he wants LIV to survive but also hopes for a unified sport in the future.

Rahm has been non-committal on his future and chosen his words carefully when asked about what he plans to do.

Telegraph Sport reported last week that LIV officials are resigned to losing Rahm, with the former Masters champion likely to seek a return to the PGA Tour.

But in an op-ed for Golfweek, columnist Eamon Lynch claimed Rahm is unlikely to be offered the same terms as Koepka, who returned to the PGA Tour after bringing the curtain down on his LIV career in January.

Lynch suggested Rahm could instead face stiffer financial penalties, restrictions on his playing privileges and potentially even be asked to apologise before being allowed to return.

"Rahm's obvious first choice for life after LIV would be returning to compete on the PGA Tour," Lynch wrote. "He lives in the U.S., and it's the most lucrative, competitively demanding and commercially relevant circuit.

"But no one around the Tour thinks Rahm will be offered the terms Koepka accepted, and many believe he'd be asked to pay stiffer financial penalties, accept restricted playing privileges and perhaps even apologize (for what, and to whom, is unclear).

"How would that sit with a man who went to war with the DP World Tour in Europe over comparatively modest fines?"

There is no indication that the PGA Tour has formally decided to demand an apology from Rahm, and Lynch's suggestion remains a matter of speculation.

But the possibility highlights the very different circumstances surrounding the two players' potential returns.

Koepka was the first major LIV star to return to the PGA Tour, doing so under the Tour's Returning Member Program.

Rahm, DeChambeau and Cameron Smith were also eligible but turned it down.

Koepka's reinstatement came with significant financial and competitive restrictions.

He forfeited equity in the PGA Tour's player equity program for five years, wasn't allowed to collect FedEx Cup bonus money in 2026, had to make a $5m donation to charity and wasn't allowed to accept sponsor invitations into the lucrative signature events.

At the time, the PGA Tour estimated Koepka was set to miss out on between $50-85m in equity earnings.

Rahm, who is reportedly still owed around $150m on his LIV contract, may still decide to stay with LIV. It would see him settle for equity in the league.

That decision would not be without consequences.

LIV players have been warned the DP World Tour is set to resume its policy of fining and sanctioning those who play in conflicting events without a release, putting Rahm's Ryder Cup ambitions at risk.

Rahm previously refused to pay the fines imposed by the DP World Tour and launched an appeal.

The delay, which many believed was deliberate, allowed Rahm to play in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

Rahm subsequently reached an agreement with the DP World Tour in May, paying his outstanding fines, believed to be about £2 million, and agreeing to play five DP World Tour events in 2026 to end the stand-off.

He withdrew his appeal in March but initially continued to refuse to pay the fines, before eventually reaching the agreement that allowed him to retain his DP World Tour membership and Ryder Cup eligibility.