It seems increasingly likely that LIV Golf will fold sooner rather than later.
LIV Louisiana has been postponed due to funding concerns. The tour has walked back its streaming services to no longer include every shot of each tournament, and LIV is reportedly preparing for the eventuality of bankruptcy.
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The biggest point of interest for fans is what will happen to the stars on LIV Golf if the tour does indeed cease to exist. Which players would be allowed to return to the PGA Tour, and who would be left out in limbo?
The tour is in a strong position of leverage here, with the ability to pick and choose which LIV players they want to return to the tour, and under what conditions. Players such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm would have to agree to the tour’s terms if they were to come back.
And Dan Rapaport has made clear which one he’d rather have on the PGA Tour out of the two.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Dan Rapaport would rather have Jon Rahm on the PGA Tour than Bryson DeChambeau
Rahm and DeChambeau are the two biggest prizes on LIV for the PGA Tour, but they’re both proving difficult to bring back. Rahm is still under contract for several years, and DeChambeau seems unwilling to negotiate any sort of deal.
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DeChambeau has grown into one of the most popular players on the planet due to the rise of his online following. But out of the two double major winners, Rapaport said he’d rather have Rahm back on the PGA Tour than DeChambeau.
He explained why on Dan on Golf: “The question here is, how badly does [DeChambeau] want to come back? It doesn’t seem like he wants to come back all that badly. It’s not like he was a guy who adored the PGA Tour when he was there. He left, and there was a little bit of strife between him and the PGA Tour.
“Bryson puts butts in seats, he’s huge with the younger crowd. Would love to see him back on tour. He’s number two on my list, it’s not disrespectful because number one on my list is Jon Rahm.
“For me, he’s the one. He was a PGA Tour guy. Torrey Pines, Riviera, loved the WM Phoenix Open. The leaderboards feel a touch bit naked without him on it. He brings intensity every single week. He’s so consistent. He is consistently at the top of the board.
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“Bryson will win tournaments but also miss cuts. Rahm, not so much. I’m thinking about Bay Hill, I’m thinking about Riviera, I’m thinking about Memorial, where he had a six-shot lead before getting told he had COVID and had to leave.
“The big PGA Tour events, like The Players, you look at the leaderboards, and they’ve got Scheffler on them, they’ve got McIlroy on them, they’ve got Schauffele on them. I feel like Rahm, that name, that Spanish fire. That’s the name I want back the most.”
Rahm has nine PGA Tour wins to DeChambeau’s seven, and was once the world number one for 52 weeks. DeChambeau might have the star power, but Rahm is flatly the better golfer.
Bryson DeChambeau won’t return to the PGA Tour in 2027
DeChambeau is out of contract at the end of this season, and while he says he’s doing everything he can to make LIV Golf work moving forward, he is exploring his options elsewhere.
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The two-time US Open winner was seen speaking to PGA Tour officials at The Masters, and he’s openly said he’s willing to step away from full-time competition to do YouTube and play only at the majors.
DeChambeau has made it clear that he isn’t willing to sign a deal with the PGA Tour like Brooks Koepka did, so that’s off the table for next year unless he walks those comments back. CEO Brian Rolapp has said that any returning LIV players will likely receive terms harsher than those Koepka received.
Most likely, DeChambeau will do content creation full-time in 2027 and potentially work out a return to the PGA Tour the following year. These truly are wild times.
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