NEW YORK — Jon Rahm has reached a separation agreement to end his LIV Golf tenure, walking away from as much as $100 million in future money owed to secure his release. The reigning LIV Golf individual champion and captain of Legion XIII will be free to leave the breakaway tour after forgoing all claims for future compensation, with the agreement pending approval by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Nov. 5, per ESPN.
As part of the separation, Rahm will forgo all equity interest in Legion XIII, the team formed upon his arrival in LIV three years ago. He will retain the rights to his name, image and likeness, as well as terms such as "Rahmbo" and "Legion XIII," though he will not be able to use "Legion XIII" in a golf context, such as a TGL team. Rahm was still owed more than $7 million as noted in bankruptcy documents, with a potential $100 million remaining on his reported $300 million deal, making him LIV's largest unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy proceedings. "Mr. Rahm has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0," his attorney John Beck said earlier this month, "and has determined that those terms are unacceptable to him, and he will not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0."
LIV Golf is proceeding through bankruptcy as it attempts to assemble investors and players for "LIV 2.0," a reimagined tour that would crisscross the planet while offering players unprecedented equity in the venture. LIV attorney Robert Fitzgerald indicated this week that the tour will announce by the end of the month whether it is proceeding forward or closing down entirely.
Rahm's departure is a severe blow to LIV's hopes for a second act. The three-time individual champion stood at the top of the tour's star power alongside Bryson DeChambeau, and with Rahm gone and DeChambeau still a free agent, LIV's attractiveness to investors drawn to golf celebrity has dimmed significantly.
Rahm is now expected to need to play his way back onto the PGA Tour the way former LIV colleague Patrick Reed is doing. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has not indicated he will re-offer the rapid pathway that Rahm declined earlier this year. Rahm is next slated to play in the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Championship in the first week of November.