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Rahm's **$300M** LIV defense is a signal to Scheffler and McIlroy that Saudi offers remain live while PIF-PGA merger stalls.
$300 million
move to LIV Golf remains defensible
$46 million
in PGA Tour career earnings
54
contracted players a combined
$2.1 billion
in signing fees and salaries since June 2022
Jon Rahm told reporters Tuesday his $300 million move to LIV Golf remains defensible, even as the Saudi-backed circuit enters its fourth season without disclosed financial backers beyond the Public Investment Fund and his own team, Legion XIII, quietly circulates term sheets to family offices in Madrid and London.
The 2023 Masters champion joined LIV in December of that year after two major wins and $46 million in PGA Tour career earnings. He said there is "never an argument in my mind" about the decision, speaking three days before the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. LIV has paid 54 contracted players a combined $2.1 billion in signing fees and salaries since June 2022, per disclosures in ongoing antitrust discovery. The league has not published audited financials. Commissioner Greg Norman told *Golf Digest* in March that LIV would be "cash-flow neutral" by 2026, a timeline sponsors and potential equity investors describe as optimistic.
Rahm's team is the signal. Legion XIII finished ninth in the 2024 team standings and missed the season-ending playoffs in Dallas. Three people familiar with the team's structure say Rahm personally owns 75 percent of Legion XIII and has approached at least two Spanish private-equity groups about selling minority stakes at a $150 million valuation. Neither deal closed. One term sheet, reviewed by a potential investor, included a clause tying future distributions to "completion of a framework agreement between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour by December 31, 2025." That framework has been under negotiation since June 2023, when PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced a surprise alliance with PIF Governor Yasir al-Rumayyan. No definitive agreement has been signed.
The PGA Tour's own capital structure adds pressure. The tour in June 2023 announced $3 billion in committed equity from Strategic Sports Group, a consortium led by Fenway Sports Group principal John Henry and Arthur Blank. SSG's investment converts to equity only after the tour finalizes governance rules and media-rights allocations with PIF. A former PGA Tour board member told *Sports Illustrated* this week he "wouldn't have gotten involved" with the Saudi talks, calling the due-diligence process "incomplete." That board member resigned in January 2024. Two current player directors privately say the SSG capital cannot deploy until LIV's legal status is resolved—either through settlement or a court ruling in the antitrust case filed by 11 LIV players in California federal court.
Rahm's public defense matters because he is LIV's highest-ranked active player at No. 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking and the circuit's most prominent post-merger signing. His comments signal to other PGA Tour stars—Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland—that the Saudi offer remains live even as integration talks stall. Scheffler's agent, Blake Smith, fielded a $400 million LIV approach in February, according to a person who reviewed the proposal. Scheffler declined. McIlroy has said he would "reconsider" if the PGA Tour and PIF formalize a partnership. That reconsideration window is the market.
Watch the June board meetings. The PGA Tour Policy Board meets June 16 in Connecticut, the same week the U.S. Open begins at Oakmont. Two player directors told colleagues they expect al-Rumayyan to attend in person for the first time since the framework announcement. If he does not, SSG has the right to pause its equity commitment under a clause disclosed in the tour's January proxy filing. LIV's 2025 schedule has 14 confirmed events, down from 14 last year but with no new title sponsors added since Aramco in 2023. One team CEO said he was told by LIV executives to "plan for a different structure" by the fall, language the CEO interpreted as merger preparation.
Rahm tees off Thursday at 1:42 PM ET. Legion XIII's next funding window closes in three weeks.
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