Jon Rahm still has a lot of unknown surrounding what his 2027 season will look like.
The two-time major champion announced last month his time with LIV Golf was over, leaving the league as its best player in its five-year history while earning more than $100 million, not including his initial contract, with LIV. Now, he's in Abu Dhabi at Yas Links for the DP World Tour Playoffs, and in his first time talking with media since leaving LIV and the birth of his fourth child, the questions were flowing about what the last few weeks have been like.
"I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there's any path back for next year," Rahm said Tuesday. "So I don't know, as of right now. Until I get clarity on that, yeah, my plan would be
to spend the year on the DP World Tour, and I'm looking forward to it. Currently looking at the schedule to see how I can organize it to play the events I want to play. You know, maybe have a chance to have a bit of a different year to what I have in the past."
Rahm continued his answer, saying he doesn't know whether the possibility of returning via a similar path that Brooks Koepka did would be possible. Koepka had to pay $5 million to charity earlier this year in addition to other penalties, like being unable to receive payouts via the Player Equity Program through 2030, and more.
If Rahm were offered the same deal as Koepka, would he agree to those terms?
"Most likely, yeah. Why not? Yeah, but it's a big if," Rahm said. "I seriously doubt I get offered the same deal that Brooks did. But yeah, if I got offered exactly the same penalties at him, I probably would do it, yes."
Rahm was offered the same deal Koepka accepted, as did Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau, but the other three never balked at the idea of leaving LIV prior to the 2026 season.
Now that LIV 1.0 is in the rearview and the second iteration of the league is trying to get off the ground, numerous players are scrambling.
Rahm has DP World Tour status, and as of now he has planned his 2027 season around a full DP World Tour schedule. It's a tour he's plenty familiar with. But he wants back on the PGA Tour.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has been adamant there will not be another Koepka-like offer for any players who want to return. In September, Rolapp said: "In terms of where we are today, we are not currently contemplating a returning-member program like the one you saw in January. Everyone at the PGA Tour, myself included, has been focused on what is best for the organization. The items approved by the boards yesterday are part of the progression in building the optimal competitive model for the future. So it was really with a broader lens of how do we build the best tour. It was not really looked at specifically on any one particular — on LIV or any other consideration. So that's generally how we thought about it."
While the Tour may not roll out the red carpet for former LIV players, perhaps someone like Rahm can have an expedited path back. But only time will tell.
"If I have to fulfill a one-year suspension, I think it's a pretty good position to be that a worst-case scenario I get to play on a wonderful tour for a whole year," Rahm said. "I will be supporting the Tour, for sure, and even if I get to go and play PGA Tour events, I'll still play European Tour events, as well. I'll play some events that I want to play like I've done in the past and maybe a few more."
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jon Rahm would accept Brooks Koepka-like terms for PGA Tour return
