Jon Rahm Remains Coy On LIV Golf League Future

After a lengthy time away, the LIV Golf League returns to the JCB Golf and Country Club, with Jon Rahm searching for a second win at the venue.

Finishing T46th at The Open Championship last week, there's still plenty of golf to be played in Rahm's season, including multiple DP World Tour events following the conclusion of the 2026 LIV Golf League.

However, although he is on-course for a third straight win in LIV's individual standings, there are still questions looming over the future of the circuit after it was revealed that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia would be pulling its funding.

Previously, Rahm hasn't ruled out the possibility of putting his own money into the reported $300 million figure that CEO, Scott O'Neil, is currently trying to raise to keep the League going.

Although he stated at the Genesis Scottish Open that: "Something I've learned in life, never say never. I'm not going to say absolutely no to anything that can happen in the future," he remained coy on discussing LIV's future at LIV Golf UK on Tuesday.

In his press conference at this week's event, he stated: "We're in contact with them. We know a lot of what's going on, yeah. Not that I can share with you guys right now.

"I'm always optimistic. I play a game for a living. I can't really be too upset about how things are going in life.

"Even though I'm very frustrated on the course very often, off the course I'm very different to what a lot of people think. I'm not going to share anything that I can't share with you guys right now."

Going into the 10th event of a 13 event season, Rahm tops the individual standings and, following the conclusion of LIV on August 27-30th, he will then head over to the DP World Tour to play multiple events there.

Currently, he's in the field for the Amgen Irish Open and played the Genesis Scottish Open a fortnight ago.

It hasn't been plain sailing between Rahm and the DP World Tour, though, as earlier this year both were involved in a stalemate over unpaid fines for playing in conflicting events without a release, which were set at a reported $3 million.

By not paying them, Rahm's place at the Ryder Cup was in jeopardy but, in May, he opted to settle his fines, meaning he was eligible to play on the circuit and qualify for the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in 2027.

Despite the addition of Rahm, some on the circuit still believe the DP World Tour is in a weak position due to the recent changes made around the PGA Tour.

As of writing, 10 PGA Tour cards are offered to the best performing DP World Tour professionals on the Race to Dubai standings, with many believing this leaves the latter in a weaker position.

Speaking about the DP World Tour, Rahm stated: "I'm not fully aware of all the changes, so I don't think I can give you a very well thought-out answer, and especially don't know where... I'm assuming as the PGA Tour changes the DP World Tour may do some changes, as well.

"I don't know where they fall in that category. I couldn't tell you. I don't think it's great for the Tour.

"I would say as great as it is for the players, to lose your 10 best players of the year that weren't already PGA Tour members to the PGA Tour can be a little challenging, but it's a great pathway for players to get to the Tour they desire to play in."

Another big topic that has reared its head in 2026 has been the pace of play at tournaments, specifically around Major championships.

Ryan Fox secured the Claret Jug on Sunday, with not only his fine play being commended, but also his pace of play.

Following Sam Burns tidying up at the 72nd hole at Royal Birkdale, Fox took just 22 seconds to step up to his putt and sink it for the win.

Many enjoyed the refreshing speed he was playing at, which was a stark contrast to the first and second rounds, which were taking over five hours to complete.

"I've talked about it with a lot of players. When you go to a Major on Thursday and Friday, you know it's going to be five and a half hours. It's just what it is," explained Rahm.

He added: "I don't think it's necessarily pace of play from players. You have 156 people trying to compete in two of them.

"A US Open being the hardest of them all, it's always going to take a long time. The Open, depending on weather conditions and setup, it's always going to take a little bit as well, just because it's that many players.

"There's nothing you can do when you have that many people playing at once. That aspect is never going to change. Augusta you have less players, so it's less of an issue, but it comes down to how difficult the setups are and how many people you have in the field.

"You rarely have an issue with pace of play on the weekend. We were playing four hours, fast. When you play smaller events with smaller fields like here in LIV, we don't have a pace-of-play issue. It's four and a half hours on average when we're playing threesomes in shotgun.

"When you're playing in the playoffs and you have 70 players or less, pace of play is never an issue.

"It gets to a point where you can only do so much, but when you, like last week for example, have a hole like 14 where it's reachable but the green is really hard to hit as a par 5, very few people are going to hit the green, now your ball is running off the green.

"It's a difficult chip. It's just going to take time. As people hit the fairway, slowly it will delay and delay and delay, and by the end of the day it's going to be quite a wait. It is the nature of the game

"I think the pace of play has been blown out of proportion a little bit as of late, and I think most people only fall back to playing slower simply because the group in front is slow.

"You only see a small part of the whole narrative, when the truth is I think when you have a smaller field, it rarely, rarely becomes an issue."