Jon Rahm leaving LIV Golf in blow to future of bankrupt league - ESPN

Two-time major champion Jon Rahm is leaving the LIV Golf League, dealing a blow to the breakaway golf circuit that is trying to emerge from federal bankruptcy without funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

During a hearing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey Judge Michael B. Kaplan on Wednesday, Rahm's attorney, John Beck, said that Rahm is leaving LIV Golf.

«Mr. Rahm has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0 and has determined that those terms are unacceptable to him, and he will not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0,» Beck said.

Beck said Rahm and LIV Golf were working to finalize a separation agreement by Oct. 15.

It isn't clear where Rahm might play in 2027. On Sept. 15, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp affirmed that the tour currently had no plans to bring back the Returning Member Program, which would allow Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith to come back under certain conditions.

Brooks Koepka used the program to come back to the PGA Tour in January.

Rahm is a member of the DP World Tour after resolving his dispute with the European tour in May.

Rahm, 31, was considered a linchpin in LIV Golf's dwindling hopes to keep the circuit alive. Along with two-time U.S. Open champion DeChambeau, Rahm is the most accomplished and popular golfer who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf.

Rahm signed with LIV Golf in December 2023, and the league's poaching of the then-reigning Masters champion was considered a major coup. He reportedly received a multiyear contract worth more than $300 million.

Rahm was a four-time winner in the LIV Golf League and was the circuit's season-long individual champion in each of the past three seasons.

LIV Golf and its related entities voluntarily filed for