Jon Rahm walks to the first tee at The Renaissance Club on Thursday afternoon with a chance to do something no LIV Golf player has ever managed: win a regular-season PGA Tour event. For a man with 11 PGA Tour wins and 10 DP World Tour titles already on his record, it is a strange sort of history to be chasing — and it makes the Genesis Scottish Open one of the most intriguing weeks of the golfing summer.
The Spaniard is among the late starters as the opening round unfolds at The Renaissance Club, where Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy headline the field. Golf.com reports that Rahm arrives as the third favourite in the betting, while Golf Channel described this week’s blend of PGA Tour and LIV players as giving the event “the look of a major”.
Why can Jon Rahm play in a PGA Tour event?
LIV players remain barred from regular PGA Tour events, with one exception: the Scottish Open, which is co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour. Because the DP World Tour largely runs the event, its rules apply — and any LIV golfer who has kept his membership in good standing is entitled to tee it up.
That is where Rahm’s route becomes complicated. According to Golf.com, he initially refused to pay the fines levied for playing LIV events opposite DP World Tour dates, entering a lengthy dispute and appeal that was only settled in May. “There’s no longer a standoff,” Rahm said at the time. “We were able to reach an agreement. There was some concessions on both sides.” The deal reportedly requires him to play five DP World Tour events this season, and the Scottish Open — a perfect Open Championship warm-up — was an obvious pick.
“God, it’s a lot of fun,” Rahm told his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “It’s great to be here.”
What would victory mean for Rahm and LIV Golf?
A win on Sunday would be Rahm’s 12th on the PGA Tour and his first since 2023, when he claimed the Genesis Invitational and the Masters before departing for LIV. It would also hand LIV a milestone it has never had. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau both won majors as LIV players — the 2023 PGA Championship and 2024 US Open respectively — and those count as PGA Tour victories, but no LIV golfer has ever won a regular-season Tour event, as Golf.com notes.
The optics of a LIV player lifting a PGA Tour trophy, in the middle of the game’s ongoing reorganisation, would be striking. It comes in a season when the PGA Tour’s sweeping schedule overhaul has already dominated the conversation, and when fellow LIV name Patrick Reed has been rebuilding his own schedule through the DP World Tour.
Can Rahm actually win the Genesis Scottish Open?
His record says yes. Rahm thrives on links golf and has made no secret that this week doubles as preparation for next week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. “A victory on Scottish soil would be fantastic,” he said this week, adding that joining the list of Scottish Open champions “would be something that would be really, really exciting.”
The verdict here is simple: Rahm does not need this win, but golf might enjoy the argument it would start. A packed leaderboard featuring Scheffler, McIlroy and the best of both tours is exactly the test LIV’s critics say its players no longer face week to week. If Rahm comes through it on a proper links, the debate about where the world’s best golf is played gets considerably louder before a ball is struck at Birkdale.
