Spanish golf star Jon Rahm ready to pay penalties to rejoin PGA Tour

Spanish golf star Jon Rahm said he would probably accept the same penalties Brooks Koepka paid to return to the PGA Tour, in his first public comments since walking away from the rest of his LIV Golf contract last month.

"Most likely, yeah. Why not? Yeah, but it's a big if," Rahm told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, when asked whether he would take a Koepka-style deal. "I seriously doubt I get offered the same deal that Brooks did. But yeah, if I got offered exactly the same penalties as him, I probably would do it, yes."

Koepka, a five-time major champion, left LIV at the end of 2025 with a year left on his contract and returned to the PGA Tour in January under its Returning Member Program. He agreed to give $5 million to charity, gave up his shares in the tour's player equity program for five years, was barred from its $100 million FedEx Cup bonus pool for 2026 and has to earn his way into its top-tier signature events. The PGA Tour put the value of the forfeited equity at $50 million to $85 million.

The tour offered the same terms in January to Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. None of them took it.

No talks yet

Rahm, 31, said he has not spoken to the PGA Tour about a way back. "As of right now, I really don't know what 2027 is going to look like for me," he said. "So I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there's any path back for next year."

Players who leave LIV normally face a one-year ban from the PGA Tour, counted from their last LIV event. Rahm's last start for the league was LIV Golf Indianapolis on Aug. 23, where he finished second. If he has to sit out that year, he plans to play the European-based DP World Tour in 2027 along with the four majors.

"If I have to fulfill a one-year suspension, I think it's a pretty good position to be in that worst-case scenario," he said. "I get to play on a wonderful tour for a whole year."

He said he left LIV because of uncertainty over its future and because he did not like the changes planned for a relaunched version of the league. "Too many unknowns at the time and there are still quite a few," he said. "As much as I liked the project and the idea on, let's say, LIV 1.0, I wasn't thrilled with the changes."

What he is giving up

Rahm joined LIV from the PGA Tour in December 2023 on a deal reported to be worth more than $300 million. Under a separation agreement filed on Oct. 14 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey, where LIV is going through Chapter 11 proceedings, he releases the league from all remaining payments, including about $7.47 million in unpaid fees for the 2026 season, and gives up his 25% stake in his team, Legion XIII. He was widely believed to be owed more than $100 million in future guaranteed money. The agreement still needs the bankruptcy judge's approval.

He leaves with plenty. Rahm earned more than $106 million in prize and bonus money over three LIV seasons and won four LIV events. He made $107 million in the 12 months to May 1, ranking seventh among the world's highest-paid athletes according to Forbes, with $97 million from playing and $10 million from sponsors including Callaway, Rolex and Banco Santander. In 2024, the year his LIV signing money was counted, he earned an estimated $218 million, second only to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Born in Barrika, in Spain's Basque Country, Rahm won the U.S. Open in 2021 and the Masters in 2023 and was ranked No. 3 in the world when he joined LIV. He has not won a major since. He is playing this week's Abu Dhabi Championship, the second-to-last event of the DP World Tour season, and sits 51st in the tour's season-long Race to Dubai, just outside the top 50 who qualify for the finale in Dubai.