Jon Rahm Wins Abu Dhabi in His First Start Since Leaving LIV Golf

Days after a bankruptcy judge signed off on his LIV Golf exit, Jon Rahm walked onto Yas Links and reminded everybody what he looks like when nobody is paying him a reported $300 million to be somewhere else.

Rahm won the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Sunday, closing with a 5-under 67 to finish at 23 under and beat Tyrrell Hatton by two shots, per the DP World Tour (opens in a new tab). Rory McIlroy shot 69 and finished third at 19 under, four back. It was Rahm's first start in seven weeks, his first time playing the event and his first regular DP World Tour title since the 2022 DP World Tour Championship, the Associated Press reported. The winner's check was $1.5 million, per PGA TOUR (opens in a new tab).

Four Tied, Then One

This was not a coronation. Early on the back nine, Rahm, McIlroy, Hatton and Italy's Francesco Laporta were all tied at 20 under, according to the AP. Then Rahm did the thing elite players do when a Sunday gets crowded: he made three birdies in a five-hole stretch starting at No. 11 and dared everyone else to keep up.

Nobody did. Laporta, chasing his first DP World Tour win, made a triple bogey at the par-3 13th and slid to fourth after a 72. Hatton, Rahm's former Legion XIII teammate, got within one with a birdie at the 15th, but Rahm matched it from close range and parred his way home. McIlroy opened his round birdie, eagle, holing a putt from nearly 50 feet on the par-5 second, but a bogey at the 15th stalled him. His week had already been dented by a two-shot penalty on Thursday that turned a double bogey into an 8.

"It means a lot," Rahm said afterward, per the DP World Tour, noting it had been a long time since he had played well in one of the tour's events.

The Numbers Behind It

The DP World Tour's own breakdown makes the case for how big this one is. It was Rahm's 11th DP World Tour title, in his 92nd start on the circuit, and his sixth Rolex Series win, the most of any player in the series. That moves him one clear of Hatton, who had five. Rahm's other Rolex Series titles are the 2017 and 2019 Irish Opens and the 2017, 2019 and 2022 DP World Tour Championships.

The win also launched him from 51st to sixth in the Race to Dubai with 2,525.45 points, per the DP World Tour. He becomes the second Spaniard to win this event on debut, after Pablo Larrazábal in 2014. And he did it on the same week he turns 32, with his birthday arriving Tuesday.

It came after a stretch away from golf for life reasons. Rahm's wife gave birth to their second daughter, the couple's fourth child, during his seven-week break, the AP reported.

The Exit That Cleared the Runway

The backdrop is the whole story. Rahm's separation from LIV was approved in bankruptcy court this week, the AP reported, the same week the league said it would not go forward with a relaunch and began winding down, which Undrafted covered Thursday. Yahoo Sports reported in October that the deal had Rahm walking away from as much as $100 million left on his LIV contract, and giving up his equity in Legion XIII. Bankruptcy documents showed LIV owed him more than $7 million, per Yahoo.

That is a lot of money to leave on the table for the right to play wherever he wants. Sunday was the first return on that investment. The last time Undrafted wrote up a Rahm win, it was LIV Golf Mexico City in April. That feels like a different era already.

Where Does He Play in 2027?

Here is the part nobody can answer yet. Rahm still has DP World Tour status, and he now has a Rolex Series trophy to go with it. The PGA TOUR is a different matter. The Tour's current policy is a one-year ban from a player's last LIV appearance, which would lift on Aug. 24, 2027, the AP reported, and CEO Brian Rolapp has not discussed a return for LIV players.

"I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there's any path back for next year," Rahm said in Abu Dhabi this week, per the AP.

The Race to Dubai adds an interesting wrinkle. The AP noted that the top 10 in the season-long standings earn PGA TOUR cards, a route former LIV players Eugenio Chacarra, Patrick Reed and Bernd Wiesberger were already chasing before this week. Rahm is now sixth. How, or whether, that pathway applies to a player still serving the Tour's suspension is a question for the tours, not a scorecard.

One More Week in the Desert

The season ends at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, which starts Thursday. The winner there collects 2,000 Race to Dubai points, per the AP, which keeps Rahm in the conversation for the Harry Vardon Trophy. McIlroy, who climbed past Reed into second, sits roughly 534 points behind leader Chacarra as he chases an eighth Race to Dubai title, which would tie Colin Montgomerie's record.

"It was a week where I had my chances," McIlroy said, per PGA TOUR.

Rahm has won the Dubai finale three times. After everything this fall threw at him, he arrives there as the hottest player in the field and the most interesting free agent in golf. The PGA TOUR's board meets Nov. 16. Rahm just made the conversation in that room a lot more awkward.

Sources: DP World Tour, the Associated Press, PGA TOUR and Yahoo Sports. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo Credit: PGA TOUR.