Jon Rahm spoke to the media this morning for the first time since deciding to part ways with LIV Golf. Understandably, those in attendance ahead of this week's DP World Tour event in Abu Dhabi wanted to know why he left. The bigger question is where he’s going.
The consensus is that the 31-year-old Spaniard will be on the DP World Tour in 2027, a fate Rahm acknowledged Tuesday and one he seemed at peace with. However, Rahm wasn’t closing a door on a return stateside either, remarking that if the PGA Tour offered him the same deal it did to Brooks Koepka earlier this year he would probably take it.
Granted, Rahm was offered the Koepka deal earlier this year and passed. At the Tour Championship in August, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said there were no plans to revive the Returning Member Program that facilitated Koepka’s reinstatement, and that “rules only matter if they’re enforced.” Rahm seems to understand that too, conceding he hasn’t talked with the tour and an immediate return is unlikely. Yet there is a belief, perhaps better framed as worry, among the tour’s rank-and-file that leadership ultimately will grant Rahm a reprieve and allow him to return next year.
Rolapp’s first full year with the PGA Tour has been a resounding success. He implemented wholesale changes to the tour’s infrastructure with almost universal buy-in, was able to negotiate Koepka’s return with little resistance and brought vision and conviction to a position that was desperately lacking both. Which is what makes wasting that political capital on Rahm a gamble. Yes, Rahm’s addition would strengthen non-signature-event fields with the next media deal on the horizon, and a hefty fine could do a lot of good on the charity front. Rahm’s return also would upset players and those in Rolapp’s own building, who felt Rahm’s defection to LIV in December 2023 was a betrayal that prolonged golf’s schism.
Rolapp is aware, too, of the fallout when his predecessor said one thing and did another. He has repeatedly stressed that he’s not beholden to the past when making decisions, his focus almost solely on making the tour better in the long-term. How that translates in the present will be an early stress test of his administration.
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The DP World Tour decided not to move its final two events of the 2026 season out of the Middle East despite lingering political unrest in the area. Players are, however, on alert this week in Abu Dhabi as tour officials have procedures in place at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship should there be any safety concerns or emergencies. The tour has posted the notice below for players explaining that if there is an alert, they will get a message on their phone, play will be suspended immediately and to seek shelter inside the clubhouse.
Eleven of the top 70 on the Race to Dubai points list have skipped the event, including Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick, Robert MacIntyre, Ryan Fox, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg and Justin Rose. Matt Fitzpatrick previously had mentioned concerns about the unrest in the region potentially keeping him from playing in Abu Dhabi or the final event in Dubai, where he has won three times.
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Tiger Woods has announced his first course in Long Island is coming to fruition. Tiger’s TGR design will be renovating the old Tam O'Shanter Country Club in Brookville, N.Y., which closed in 2021, to introduce a new destination private club with member cottages. The venture is a partnership with the Armchair Collective, which has a “national club model for private golf connecting architecturally exceptional courses in iconic destinations.”
The news follows last week’s report that TGR will be building a brand-new course in Northern Ireland. More information on the Long Island venture is expected in 2027. “The opportunity to create a new golf experience in the heart of Long Island’s Gold Coast, a region steeped in rich history, is tremendously exciting for our team,” Woods said in a release. “I have great memories of competing on Long Island, especially at Bethpage. This region has an extraordinary golf course architecture tradition, and we look forward to contributing to that legacy with a course that players can enjoy for generations.” Tiger won the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
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Golf Channel announced the rosters for the next Rory vs. Scottie exhibition. On Dec. 16 at President Trump’s golf course in Jupiter, Fla., Rory McIlroy will team with Matt Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim and Haotong Li against Scottie Scheffler’s squad of Chris Gotterup, Jackson Koivun and Michael Brennan for the second Golf Channel Games. A press release stated the event will feature “rapid-fire golf competition” including “challenges such as the Team Relay and 14-Club Challenge, as well as new challenges for the 2026 competitors.” The made-for-TV matchup will air on Golf Channel and USA Network during primetime.
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