LIV Golf has branded itself as a fantastic alternative for young players to learn their trade.
Its team format means young players join a group of experienced tour pros and, in theory, can lean on them and learn from them while playing on the tour.
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That was a key reason 2025 NCAA Champion Michael La Sasso gave for joining LIV for this season. He signed with Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers hoping to take some pearls of wisdom from the six-time major winner.
Mickelson has hardly played on LIV this year, so it’s not exactly worked out for La Sasso. But what’s happened to Jon Rahm’s teammate since joining his LIV Golf team shows that La Sasso wouldn’t have gotten much out of playing with Mickelson anyway.
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Why Jon Rahm’s teammate has proven LIV Golf’s narrative is false
Rahm has had unrivaled success on LIV Golf. He’s won three straight individual titles, and his Legion XIII has won back-to-back team titles.
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You would think, therefore, that there’s no better place to develop your game as a young player than competing alongside the two-time major winner. That was the position Tom McKibbin found himself in when he signed with LIV Golf.
The now 23-year-old has played on Rahm’s Legion XIII for two seasons. In that time, he’s missed the cut in his last four major championships and has just one top-five finish to his name in 2026.
Of course, he’s still young, but there’s been a sudden surge of young players who have taken a leap on the PGA Tour. Jackson Koivun won his first event at 21, Michael Thorbjornson did the same at 24, and Michael Brennan has two wins at the same age.
The PGA Tour, through its University program, has successfully developed the next generation of superstars far more effectively than LIV Golf. There’s so much young talent in the game, yet there’s no evidence that playing in a team format has helped these young players.
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No player could have asked for a better environment than Tom McKibbin over the last two years, and it’s had little to no impact on his game. So if a young player is considering a move to LIV in order to play in the same team as a worldwide player, they should think again.
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