Jon Rahm Will Give Up Remaining LIV Millions To Secure Exit Deal

Jon Rahm will give up the millions of dollars left on his LIV Golf contract in order to walk away from the league - in exchange for securing his image rights and those of his Legion XIII team.

Rahm has officially ruled himself out of playing in LIV Golf 2.0 and is now seeking a full separation from the league and the cancellation of his current contract.

And it seems he's prepared to write off whatever guaranteed money remains on the contract in order to make a clean break and also regain his exclusive image rights.

Some reports suggest Rahm is still owed as much as $100m from the huge contract the Spaniard signed in December 2023, said to be worth over $300m in total, but what we do know for a fact is that he is currently owed $7.47m as LIV's largest unsecured creditor according to court papers filed in its bankruptcy case.

However, according to the seperation agreement filed during LIV's latest bankruptcy hearing, Rahm is prepared to release LIV from "all monetary and economic claims" arising from his contracts in what will be "a complete economic walk-away” between the two parties.

The terms include any outstanding prize money, bonus money of annual payments due to Rahm for the remainder of his contract, which would certainly get LIV off the hook in one respect given how much cash was reportedly still left on his deal.

If the agreement gets final approval at a 5 November court hearing, Rahm will be released from his contract and thereby free to enter negotiations with the other parties, including the PGA Tour even though Brian Rolapp has stated there'll be no returning member program this time around.

Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith all turned down the last offer that Brooks Koepka took up to secure his PGA Tour return - but Rahm can play on the DP World Tour and a full schedule in Europe looks his most likely outcome for 2027.

Rahm, who has made around $107m just in on-course earnings in this three seasons on LIV, will next appear in action in the DP World Tour Play-offs at the Abu Dhabi Championship and season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Rahm retains Legion XIII rights

Rahm will leave some cash on the table and also equity in his Legion XIII team, which all captains had as part of their deals - though he does retain image rights.

He has his own Jon Rahm and 'Rahmbo' rights restored to himself personally, and he also now has possession of the Legion XIII trademark - although interestingly there's a special clause in the papers preventing him from using it in another team league.

Notably, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods' TGL is mentioned, with Rahm specifically prevented from using the Legion XIII marks if he one day appears in the hi-tech simulator golf league.

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil has until 25 October to get enough players signed up for 2.0 to enable the $300m investment deal from BC Partners to be completed - although that deadline can shift if needed.

And LIV Golf insiders remain bullish on the chances of the new league going ahead, with confidence high that a 'critical mass' of signings will be made to satisfy BC Partners that the deal is worth making.

Officials were fully prepared for Rahm to leave, and the focus now is on securing enough players to be able to get 2.0 off the ground next season.

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Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.