Ahead of his first round at the PGA Championship, Jon Rahm has been told why he’s hurting in golf’s majors since turning his back on the PGA Tour in favor of LIV
03:07 ET, 15 May 2025Updated 03:21 ET, 15 May 2025
Jon Rahm has been told he’s “hurting” in the major championships since joining LIV Golf(Image: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
Former world No. 1 Jon Rahm is “hurting” at the major championships because he’s no longer “on the cutting edge” in LIV Golf. That’s according to Ryder Cup-winning captain Paul McGinley, who doesn’t appear to be expecting much from the Spaniard at this weekend’s PGA Championship.
Rahm, 30, stunned the golf world at the end of 2023 when he announced he’d be joining LIV despite months upon months of pledging his future loyalty to the PGA Tour. He was slated by many fans as a hypocrite, while others empathized with the decision given reports he had been paid $300 million to trade his allegiances.
And Rahm has continued to win big on the Saudi-funded series, raking in almost $46M in just one-and-a-bit seasons under their banner. But while he may be significantly richer in regards to his bank balance, McGinley believes the general lower level of play in LIV competitions has reduced his threat in the majors.
“Jon’s performances in majors since he’s gone to LIV have been disappointing,” he said during a recent appearance on the Golf Channel. “Because three years ago before he went to LIV, I would say he’s going to be an absolute powerhouse – not far from where we have Scottie [Scheffler] now.
“We haven’t seen that from Jon when he’s come back to the majors. Yes, he’s top 10 every week on LIV, but we’re really looking at the majors.”
McGinley went on to give his view that a lot of the LIV transfers are likely experiencing issues they “hadn’t thought about” when they made the switch. And that element of surprise could be what’s causing certain players to drop off the radar when the biggest individual competitions in golf roll around.
Paul McGinley appears almost saddened to see Rahm’s major decline(Image: Phil Inglis/Getty Images)
“There’s nothing easy in life,” he continued. “Yes, they can say they’ve made a lot of money. But they’re hurting on the other side in terms of coming to these major championships not on the cutting edge, as they would have been had they stayed on the PGA Tour.”
Rahm had finished with a share of 10th or better in 12 of his previous 22 major appearances (roughly 55%) prior to joining LIV. He has managed to do so just once in four major outings since the switch last year, not to mention seeing his streak of 18 consecutive major cuts come to an end.
It just so happens it was at last year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla that said streak came crashing to a close. But he’ll be hoping to make a statement at Quail Hollow this weekend by turning in a much-improved performance.
Rahm failed to make the cut at last year’s PGA Championship and has a point to prove this weekend(Image: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
McGinley – who won the 2010 Ryder Cup for Team Europe before captaining the side to another victory four years later – isn’t all down on LIV. He gave Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau – each of whom have won majors since defecting – their dues for continuing to compete at the top level.
He added: “Coming back with all the jet leg is not that easy – it’s a whole lot easier staying in one country then playing the Major in that same country.
“Going to LIV, yes there’s a lot of upside and they got a lot of money to do so, but because it’s a start-up and they have to travel around the world it gives a lot of disadvantages when it comes to these Major championships.
“Bar Brooks and Bryson the rest have not turned up seriously since they’ve gone to LIV in these Major championships.”
Dustin Johnson has become largely irrelevant at the major championships since he was one of the first to spearhead the PGA exodus. Former world No. 2 Cameron Smith was on a path to superstardom and had just won The Open prior to his exit in 2022, but hasn’t managed to muster quite the same threat since then.
Rahm will join other LIV converts like DeChambeau, Koepka, Smith, Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Joaquin Niemann in the field this weekend. He’s due to tee off on the 10th at 8am ET alongside Patrick Cantlay and Matt Fitzpatrick.
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