Jon Rahm has opened up on why he quit LIV Golf and his possible pathway back to the PGA Tour.

Jon Rahm says he decided to quit LIV Golf because he did not like the changes being made to the circuit, but he “seriously doubts” he will be offered the same terms as Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour.

Rahm opened up about his LIV departure for the first time ahead of his debut here at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship. The Spaniard rejected the “unacceptable” terms offered by LIV 2.0 in bankruptcy court last month, ending fervent speculation over his future after the league lost the multi-billion dollar support of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

“I would say I can only reflect on those three years as a positive,” he said on his DP World Tour return at Yas Links. “It was a wonderful experience, played a lot of good golf, obviously individually and as a team, we did great.

“As much as I liked the project and the idea on, let’s say, LIV 1.0, I wasn’t thrilled with the changes they were doing to 2.0 and I just wasn’t willing to follow that path, right. It wasn’t anything special, anything that stood out. I just didn’t like what they were going with 2.0.”

Rahm was asked to expand on what those changes were.

“There were too many unknowns at the time,” he said. “There were still quite a few, so it seemed like it was going a bit away from team golf and some of the things that we do. It just kind of became more of a regular tournament. It wasn’t really ever much of a consideration.”

LIV is planning to stage 10 events around the world with 75-player fields and prize funds ranging from $5million to $9.5million, but the league has struggled to convince a number of its biggest names to stay for its proposed relaunch.

Rahm stunned the game when joining LIV in December 2023 for a reported $450m and, at the time, he suggested he could be the catalyst for bringing the fractured sport back together as the civil war with the PGA Tour raged on.

He earned north of $100m in total prize money, winning the league’s individual title in each of his three seasons with the league. But Rahm was owed $7.5m as one of the league’s biggest creditors when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and he was rumored to still be owed up to $100m from his original deal. As part of his exit agreement, though, he agreed to a “complete economic walkaway”.

When asked about whether there was any frustration that he did not receive what he had originally signed for, Rahm simply replied: “No.”

It appears Rahm will spend the next few months on the DP World Tour as he serves a year-long PGA Tour suspension dating from his last LIV start.

“I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there’s any path back for next year,” he said. “So I don’t know, as of right now. Until I get clarity on that, 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 organise it to play the events I want to play. Maybe have a chance to have a bit of a different year to what I have in the past. But I haven’t really gone too deeply into it just because there’s still a question mark.”

Just weeks before the Saudis withdrew their funding from LIV, Rahm rejected a deal to come back to the PGA Tour via a contrived ‘Returning Members Program’ that included fines and an inability to earn equity from PGA Tour Enterprises for five years. Only Brooks Koepka accepted the deal, which was also made available to Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith.

PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp has repeatedly stated that this was a one-time offer.

“Obviously, Brooks was able to go back through certain circumstances,” Rahm added. “I don’t know if the possibility of that would be open for me or not, but if I have to fulfil 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.

“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.”

Rahm said he would “most likely” accept if he was offered the same terms as Koepka now.

“But it’s a big if,” he added. “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 has had a hectic few months after welcoming his fourth child with his wife Kelley, and admits the fervor around his future has been a distraction.

“Where you like to admit it or not, it’s just noise in your head. So it’s something that you have to deal with, right. It definitely has been something that’s taken attention and effort from what I want to do, and in that way it has been a distraction for sure.”