Jon Rahm may not “see many ways out” of his LIV Golf contract, but he does not sound like someone who harbours regrets about joining the league two years ago.

The Spanish star spoke to reporters at Aronimink Golf Club ahead of this week’s PGA Championship, less than a month after news emerged that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) would end its financial backing for LIV at the end of the season.

Rahm joined later than other high-profile players, switching allegiances between the 2023 and 2024 season while the PGA Tour and LIV attempted to iron out details of a “framework agreement” to merge interests. Rahm said on Tuesday he never thought taking the LIV deal, at a reported $300m (R4.9bn) or more, would “tip the scales” in the negotiations, which petered out.

“I’ve made a lot of decisions, and I’ve never gone back thinking, ‘Had I known this, I would do X and Y different,’” Rahm said. “I could do that about 15 different shots on the course every day. If I lived my life like that as a golfer, I would be very pessimistic.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and all we can do is learn from things that happen in the past good and bad. To speculate on what could have been different doesn’t make much sense.”

Rahm, who said last week he has several years on his contract and doesn’t “see many ways out” of it, said it is human nature to think “what could have been”, but he tries to steer away from letting that alter his decision-making.

If the terms change afterward, like it’s happened with LIV that things changed a bit, it’s an afterthought, not a problem from the choice. Elements have changed a bit

—  Jon Rahm

“If you made all the decisions, whatever decision you’ve made or choice is thought through and made for the reasons you think are proper reasons, there’s no sense in dwelling on it,” he said. “If the terms change afterward, like it’s happened with LIV that things changed a bit, it’s an afterthought, not a problem from the choice. Elements have changed a bit.”

Those elements that have changed with LIV started small — for instance, the move this year from 54-hole to 72-hole events to gain limited world ranking points for members. Now the larger LIV experiment may go down unless the league can line up more lines of income. An event planned for June in New Orleans has been postponed, possibly to be played after the official season ends.

Shortly after Rory McIlroy claimed outsiders could see PIF’s decision coming, Rahm reflected on how LIV players followed the reports last month while in Mexico City.

“It is something we’ve had to deal with, but it’s out of my control,” he said. “Out of the talents I have, fixing a business is not one. My job is to play golf. It’s the people in charge of LIV, whose job I do not envy, not now, not when things are going good because it’s not something I think I can do. It’s their job to fix it.”

Rahm has collected two wins, three runners-up and a top-five in the first six events of the LIV calendar before tying for eighth last week in Virginia. However, he tied for 38th at the Masters.

LIV’s new deal with the Official World Golf Ranking means Rahm has climbed to 20th in the world thanks to points earned from the top-10s. The two-time major winner said he doesn’t necessarily need a ranking to tell him where his game is at, but quibbled about his position.

“The way I’ve played, including the past three years, I feel like I’m playing better than the ranking I have,” he said. “I’m not going to get into the details of what number I would be because I don’t want to insult any player who doesn’t play fantastic golf, but I feel like higher than I am would be fair.” — Field Level Media

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