Jon Rahm wants PGA Tour return

Jon Rahm has reiterated his desire to play select tournaments on the PGA Tour as he outlined his ideal outcome for golf’s long-awaited peace agreement.

Rahm is competing at the Spanish Open this week, his first DP World Tour start since joining the LIV Golf League last December. The Spaniard has overcome the flu and flown straight from his home in Arizona, where he was present for his wife Kelley’s delivery of their third child.

And his late arrival at Club de Campo Villa in Madrid is important not only for the event itself, but also for Rahm’s Ryder Cup hopes. After appealing sanctions for his LIV starts, the two-time major champion needs to play three more events before the end of the 2024 season to maintain his DP World Tour membership and remain eligible for the European side in 2025.

It is one year until the match at Bethpage Black, but Rahm is hopeful that a deal to unite the sport’s warring factions can be finally completed well before then. The PGA Tour and PIF, LIV’s Saudi bankrollers, remain in negotiations to operate together, rather than independently.

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Rahm’s wish is a deal will allow him to “play freely” between the tours, including on the PGA Tour where he is currently indefinitely banned.

“Being a member of the European Tour, I never had to ask to go play anything and the PGA was basically the same,” he told reporters on Wednesday, speaking in his native tongue. “You could do whatever you wanted as a player and enjoy this sport in other tournaments and tours in the world.

“What I have done and what many players have done, I don’t think much about that. I think there are many people who don’t understand very well what those in the world want.

“Few or almost none of the players would want to play a whole year on the PGA Tour again because it would be impossible to combine the two. But being able to have the option of playing certain tournaments is what I said.

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“If we started (the LIV season) in February, in January I would have time to play Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance Open) and the American Express… It would be cases like that to be able to come here without problems, and enjoy being a DP World Tour member as I am.”

Rahm did admit that he had “no idea” about the progress of the prolonged talks between his former tour and LIV’s benefactors, but he is bullish that a deal will get done.

“With the gossip and rumours that have being circulating over the last few weeks, it seems there has been a big step forward made,” he added.

“I’m optimistic.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.