Jon Rahm has finally made the right call on the DP World Tour – but is his biggest decision yet to come?

That wasn’t so hard now, was it?

LIV Golf rebel Jon Rahm has struck a deal with the DP World Tour, agreeing to a conditional release agreement and guaranteeing his Ryder Cup future.

Similar to the trade that eight other DP World Tour (DPWT) members on the LIV Golf League took in February, Rahm will pay his outstanding fines accumulated since 2024, allowing him to compete with LIV for the rest of the year unpunished, and play his required quota of DPWT events in 2026 to keep his membership.

Having dropped the original appeal that allowed him to avoid paying $3 million in fines for playing in conflicting events on the controversial Saudi-funded circuit, the Spaniard had been hellbent on not coughing up, and unhappy with playing six DPWT events this year, even though that’s what some of his LIV colleagues agreed to three months ago.

Now, in Rahm’s case, he will pay for fines accrued during this 2026 season and, having been sanctioned for playing in three conflicting events so far, the two-time major champion will only be required to play in five DPWT events to keep his membership for 2027. That means he will be eligible to play for Europe at the Ryder Cup in Ireland next year.

After Rahm told the press of the deal at LIV’s event in Virginia this week, a spokesperson for the DP World Tour said: “The DP World Tour and Jon Rahm have come to an agreement on conditional releases to play in conflicting tournaments on LIV Golf during the remainder of its 2026 season. This involves payment of all outstanding fines accrued from 2024 to date, along with participation in agreed DP World Tour tournaments (outside the Majors) in the remainder of the 2026 season.”

European Ryder Cup fans will breathe a sigh of relief. Not only will Rahm look to play in the Spanish Open later this year, but that will be part of a string of appearances on the schedule, formerly known as the European Tour, that will help to keep his card, and stamp a ticket to Adare Manor for the heated biennial matches with America.

This has been a grim period of brinkmanship, though, in which Rahm seemingly displayed a gross image of inflated self-worth, challenging the very tour he represents for Team Europe. While his peers accepted a deal and made peace with the DPWT, Rahm pushed the relationship to the edge, to the point where now, he must still play in five events, instead of the tour’s previous demand of six, and still hand over a meaty cheque.

But remarkably, Rahm’s biggest career decision is yet to come.

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Will Jon Rahm leave LIV Golf?

His choice to join the LIV Golf League at the end of 2023 for a reported $300 million fee, appearing on US television in a LIV letterman jacket, might have been surreal, but is there a chance he could leave the party just as the lights are turning on?

The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has bankrolled the breakaway LIV tour since its inception in 2022, is pulling the plug at the end of this season. LIV has recruited new directors to navigate what promises to be an intense period of investment seeking and cobbling together the heinous riches that all 57 players on the LIV roster became accustomed to.

There are six LIV events worth $30 million left in 2026, plus the Team Championship and the LIV Louisiana event, which needs to be rearranged. The PIF are believed to have pumped $5 billion into the project so far, with other quotes further north. For whatever reason, the Saudi Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund has realigned its financial priorities, and Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan has left the LIV board.

We should note: From June 7, when the LIV Valderrama event ends, Rahm will have no LIV events to play in ahead of The Open in late July, with the LIV Louisiana event postponed. He can now fill that void with DPWT events.

Could Jon Rahm be next to leave? LIV is fast-approaching a period of uncertainty. While Rahm and other stars on the roster maintain their fondness for the format, team identities and various other features of LIV, their decisions were guided by the astronimcal sums of money they were offered. If LIV cannot attract that level of investment in 2027, what is the attraction for players?

Rahm has said himself that he has ‘several years’ left on his contract, but two-time US Open champion and box office star Bryson DeChambeau’s deal runs out this year. If you thought LIV’s existence and legitimacy were undermined when Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed left at the start of this year, then there would be grave concern if DeChambeau were to follow them out the door.

That would leave Rahm regularly playing against very few contemporaries with comparable talent to him, and on a circuit starved of the generational funding it once enjoyed. Koepka is already back on the PGA Tour, and in August, Reed will be allowed to, as well.

At Trump National DC on Tuesday, Rahm also said: “I have several years on my contract left, and I’m pretty sure they did a pretty good job when they drafted that. So I don’t see many ways out, and as of right now, I’m not really thinking about it since we still have a season to play and majors to compete for. So it’s not something I want to think about just yet.”

Rahm suggests his water-tight documents might prevent a departure anyway, but with any amount of precedent and paperwork, can anything really be ruled out in men’s golf at the moment? Since 2022, it’s forever been the year of the U-turn. LIV unexpectedly lost PIF’s funding when it was essentially guaranteed through to 2030.

Furthermore, the PGA Tour introduced a contrived returning member category at the start of the season to essentially earmark which players they’d welcome back, which Koepka took advantage of. Rahm, DeChambeau and Cam Smith rejected it.

Even if Rahm cannot cut his deal short, it is conceivable he will seek a way out as early as possible.

If there was a case where DeChambeau was presented with a red carpet, with the PGA Tour boss Brian Rolapp standing on the end with his hand out, Rahm might have his face pressed up against the glass, watching his once-fellow LIV rebels playing with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler again.

This might have been a tough decision for Rahm to make concessions, somewhat swallow his pride and finally shake hands with the DP World Tour. To cut his LIV deal short, if it came to it, hurdles might need to be jumped through, but Koepka got out a year early, albeit perhaps with different terminology on his contract.

A tough decision is coming at some point.

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