Jon Rahm has been in top form at LIV events and has recently arrived at an agreement to open the way to Europe’s Ryder Cup team for 2027. Image courtesy livgolf.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Even as uncertainty over its future continues to roil LIV Golf, the league reaches the halfway point of its 2026 — and possibly final — season at Trump National Golf Club Washington D.C. from Thursday.
It is LIV Golf’s first event in the US this year and the seventh venue after Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and Mexico, and the focus will once again be on Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
Rahm, who has been in the news over his having reached an agreement over outstanding fines to the DP World (European) Tour to regain Ryder Cup status for 2027, is coming off his second win of the season.
The reigning two-time LIV Golf individual champion notched up a six-stroke victory in Mexico City, his fourth individual title of his LIV career while his Legion XIII also won the team title in Mexico City.
It was the ninth regular season win in the team’s history, tying Crushers GC for most of any team.
Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau have each won twice in the last four tournaments, with Rahm more than 300 points ahead in the individual race after two wins, three solo seconds and a solo fifth.
In the news
The Crushers captain too has been grabbing headlines outside of LIV and most recently told the X handle Nuclr Golf that he had been caught napping by the apparent imminent demise of the league.
“I was completely shocked (by the PlF pullout), I didn’t expect it to happen. A couple months before that, it’s like, ‘We’re here until 2032. We’ve got financing until 2032, and so I told everybody, and that’s what I was told.
“And then, you know, I haven’t had any communication. And unfortunately, things are moving on in a different direction. Obviously, they wanted to move.
“There’s a few different models (on the future of LIV Golf). The PGA Tour isn’t doing great either. Let’s be honest about the situation.
“They’ve got the media. They’ve got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they’re reducing field sizes, cutting employees, and restructuring their business too.”
Meanwhile, young Fireballs GC stars David Puig and Josele Ballester who joined Rahm on the all-Spanish podium in Mexico City and are among those chasing US Open slots.
Exemption stakes
LIV Golf’s exemptions into next month’s US Open will be determined after this week with more than a few in the 57-player field still having a mathematical chance to earn a spot in the third major of the season.
LIV Golf has two paths to gaining entry into the upcoming major, with both exemptions becoming official on May 18 — as the top player not otherwise exempt in the top three of the final 2025 standings, and in the top three of the 2026 season unless otherwise exempt.
Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann has earned the first exemption by finishing second in 2025 with Rahm and DeChambeau already in the field.
Best-placed among the others is Thomas Detry, ranked third in points behind Rahm and DeChambeau. The Belgian star has two podiums among four top 10 finishes this season.
Detry can guarantee the exemption with victory in Virginia. The group also includes Elvis Smylie (fourth in points), Anthony Kim (fifth), Puig (sixth), Richard T. Lee (seventh) and Thomas Pieters (eighth).
Also read: Saudi Arabia’s PIF set to formalise withdrawal from LIV Golf
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