Jon Rahm leaves LIV to join DP World Tour

Jon Rahm has officially parted ways with the LIV Tour and is set to make his debut on the DP World Tour at the Abu Dhabi Championship, a playoff event, in early November.

With Rahm leaving, and complete uncertainty about Phil Mickelson’s career, it looks like Bryson DeChambeau is the last big name that can provide any support to LIV.

It is hard to imagine LIV surviving in the long run now, and top players such as Joaquin Niemann will likely need to work their way back to DP World or the PGA Tour.

Since I generally limit my golf TV viewing to the majors and a few other big events on tour, I never once watched a LIV event.

With that said, I was indifferent as to whether it should survive or not and never took a side either way.

I always found it amusing how passionate people on both sides were.

I haven’t liked the direction the PGA Tour has taken in recent years, with more limited field events and an emphasis on power at most venues.

On the other hand, LIV seemed like it was trying to hard to be different.  The team concept was cool, but I wasn’t onboard with the shotgun starts and the injection of music.

In regard to the 54 hole tournaments, some argued this made the LIV players less competitive in the majors.

I really didn’t think it had much of an impact in spite of the lack of winners among LIV players.

However, let’s face it… many of the LIV players were either past their prime (Mickelson, Westwood, Poulter, etc), or were just starting their professional careers (James Piot, Matthew Wolff, etc).

Therefore, the league was not that strong to begin with, but it did seem to entertain its fans.

Anyhow, it would be nice to see players like Rahm, Koepka and DeChambeau get back to their best form.

All three draw eyeballs to golf tournaments compared to some of the other top players on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, and stronger fields makes for better viewing.

BTW, if you haven’t checked it out, be sure to read my thoughts on Will Zalatoris missing the 2027 season.  Wishing him the best with his upcoming back surgery and recovery.

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Author: Scott