Jon Rahm announced his decision to leave LIV Golf back in October and since then, the league has collapsed.

It was confirmed on Thursday that LIV Golf has gone into liquidation, and now all of the big names who left to join the league over the past four years are looking to return to the PGA Tour.

However, that will not be possible for Jon Rahm and co. until they have served their one-year suspension for playing in LIV Golf events.

Rahm decided to leave LIV Golf due to the fact that he wanted to compete against the very best golfers in the world, and in bigger tournaments once again.

It may not be too long before we see the biggest names in the sport competing alongside each other on a regular basis outside of the majors once again.

However, those golfers who are now no longer with LIV face an extremely tricky route back to the PGA Tour, and Rahm in particular could well have more issues than most.

Jon Rahm has a big problem regarding his hopes of a PGA Tour return

Trey Wingo highlighted the reason why Rahm’s potential return to the PGA Tour may be more problematic than people think.

“I think all golf fans, if we’re being honest about it, just want all the best players in one place to watch them all compete, but Jon Rahm does not have leverage right now,“ Wingo suggested.

“He is right in the fact that he won’t be getting the same deal as Brooks Koepka, as they had that one time player returning policy that we talked about.

“That came through from Brian Rolapp last March and the bottom line here is that Jon Rahm is going to accept whatever the PGA Tour decides to give him. You have to understand that he is not getting the same deal as Brooks as that was offered as an olive branch in March and Jon did not take it. Brooks was smart enough to go ahead and begin that process.

“Jon Rahm when he defected to LIV after pledging his fealty to the PGA Tour, propped up LIV for a couple more years. There is a lot of folks in Ponte Vedra Beach and Jacksonville and Sawgrass, where the PGA Tour HQ is, that weren’t happy with a lot of players who left. But I can promise you that Jon Rahm leaving will linger with them in the way that they decide to get a pathway for Jon Rahm back to the PGA Tour, because it propped up LIV for a couple more years.“

So, the powers that be at the PGA Tour were seemingly more frustrated with Jon Rahm’s decision to join LIV Golf than they were with the exits of everyone else.

It’s little wonder why either. At the time, many in the golfing sphere saw Spaniard’s defection to LIV as the final piece of the jigsaw for the former Saudi-backed league.

However, the PGA Tour has actually gone from strength to strength since then. Crucially, they have proven that they can operate successfully without Rahm, and that gives them great leverage over the Spaniard.

Rahm’s only option now will be to let his golf clubs do the talking. Obviously the PGA Tour could still offer the 31-year-old a similar deal to the one they gave Brooks Koepka earlier this year.

That said, it feels like that ship has sailed now. Rahm will have to play well on the DP World Tour over the course of the next 12 months or so and earn back his PGA Tour card the hard way.