Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Jon Rahm’s future on LIV Golf, the U.S. Amateur at Merion and LeBron James’ move into YouTube golf.
1. This week, in “Will or Won’t LIV Golf Survive?” brought reporting that Jon Rahm might not be long for the league. According to the Telegraph’s James Corrigan, several LIV sources are “almost resigned” to Rahm’s departure after the 2026 season, and that the DP World Tour is aware of Rahm’s intentions. How much would a Rahm exit hurt the league in its efforts to attract new investors and stay alive in 2027 and beyond?
Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@schrock_and_awe): If Rahm does exit after the event in Indianapolis, you’d have to think it would be a near-mortal wound for LIV. If reports that the money the new investor has promised is tied to star retention are true, then Rahm leaving would leave LIV 2.0 with Bryson DeChambeau and not much else, assuming other notable names exit behind Rahm.
Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): It’s not great. The extent of LIV’s inbound investment will be contingent on its ability to keep its top stars, and Rahm has been its best player since his arrival. At this point, I, like Ian Poulter, do not see LIV’s path forward.
Sean Zak, senior writer (@sean_zak): Rahm leaving LIV would only add to what we already know: the league is floundering. It can’t afford to lose its best player. It would also create a bit of a domino effect, I’d think, with his other Legion 13 teammates.
2. When Rahm signed with LIV at the end of 2023, his timing seemed impeccable, and not just because he collected nine figures in guaranteed money. At that juncture, LIV had the PGA Tour backpedaling, with indications that the leagues might open up channels by which players could play on both tours. Today, that possibility has been turned on its head, with the Tour squarely back in the driver’s seat. How much will Rahm’s decision to sign with LIV shape his legacy?
Schrock: Regardless of what he does in the future, the decision to sign with LIV will be the opening line on Rahm’s career obituary. Because of the effect it had on the state of pro golf’s civil conflict and how it shocked everyone. Rahm went from No. 1 player in the world, with an appreciation for golf’s traditions who couldn’t be bought, to a star player who took a lot of money to try and create his own path and spent years of his prime on a tour that didn’t adequately prepare him for the majors he seemed destined to win. He still has a lot of years left in the game and surely a lot of winning to do, but his decision to join LIV will be something he carries.
Dethier: I dunno. He made a lot of money. He left as the reigning Masters champ, which maximized the amount of money he could sign for in the moment. He racked up a whole bundle of top 10s on LIV, which meant he made a bunch more money. He may still be owed a bunch of money. That’s probably the theme of this stretch of his career: Profit maximization. As for his legacy? My only caveat would be that golf careers are long, and his has many chapters left. The golf world will reshape again, Rahm will continue to be among its main characters and each golf fan can make his own call as to how they view his legacy.
Zak: It’ll inform his legacy, certainly, but he had two majors before LIV and will almost certainly win more in the future. He’s 31, going on 32, will be a Ryder Cup captain at some point, and I sense he will hang around the game for a long time. There are many, many years by which he can alter what the golf world thinks of these last few years. It definitely feels like an odd chapter, though.
3. The 126th U.S. Amateur concluded at Merion on Sunday with Jack Whaley def. Jay Leng Jr., 4 and 3. There was a lot to like about the week, from some of the colorful participants to the storied venue to a Charles Barkley cameo. What will stick with you from this Am?
Schrock: It truly was a week for people who love golf. There’s no better event to watch and enjoy golf than a U.S. Am, and Merion being the stage made the event feel weightier than normal. An iconic golf course with a field full of interesting stories and an unexpected winner who got to share an all-time moment with his dad on the bag. Can’t beat it.
Dethier: This is nebulous, but this U.S. Am felt big. Merion made it feel big, and so did the USGA, and hell, so did my GOLF colleagues on the ground. With apologies to the Boeing Classic, it felt like a legitimate contender for biggest golf event of the week, which is notable given it was up against the PGA Tour’s playoffs.
Zak: I started the week thinking it’s all a bit gratuitous how many people get into the field, but left the week loving all the odd stories it brings together. The bizarre Tiger-polo, the fedora man, the cigar-toting senior — I didn’t really clock any of their names, but I enjoyed their vibes. What a wild array of characters.
4. Our James Colgan wrote earlier this week that the PGA Tour’s revamped post-season, which is coming in 2028 and will feature a match-play finale, could glean a lot from the U.S. Amateur, including the employment of elite courses in big markets, smaller footprints and a head-to-head format driving TV eyeballs. Would you agree that the Amateur is a worthy model for the Tour?
Schrock: I couldn’t agree more with James’ thesis. Being at the U.S. Am this week at Merion was a rare golf experience that allows you to watch the game in its purest form. The fans are true die-hard golf sickos, and there’s an appreciation for the game and the venue that the PGA Tour could benefit from. The mixture of formats helps, but I think the combination of match play, cathedrals and smaller footprints is a winning formula that will please golf fans.
Dethier: I think that’s the plan! The Tour is chasing something with prestige, with mystique, with meaning. Whatever gets them out of a Memphis-St. Louis-Atlanta August swing will be an improvement — but there’s a lot of possibility for creative execution.
Zak: The only element of this likely missing from the Tour’s future Tour Championship is hundreds of people walking along, without a ropeline barring them from the center of the fairway. Would be very cool if the Tour somehow leaned into that aesthetic.
5. Scottie Scheffler hasn’t lacked for chances this season, but before this week had won just once in 2026, at the American Express in January. That changed in a big way on Sunday when he won the first FedEx Cup playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude, by eight — eight! What did Scheffler find in Memphis?
Schrock: Maybe it was the driver switch, or maybe everything that had been costing him wins this year didn’t happen this week. He didn’t get off to a slow start, didn’t have a subpar round that put him behind the eight ball, and didn’t run into someone playing at full flight while he was armed with only his B-game. He came with his A-game, and it wasn’t close.
Dethier: What he found was a way to completely change the narrative around his season. A one-win, Amex-only campaign with five runners-up is an unfulfilled year. A two-wins-including-an-eight-shot-blowout season hits a different note altogether. Again: he won by eight. Over the best players in the world. It seemed like every one of his competitors stumbled or crumbled at some point on Sunday and Scheffler just kept pulling further away. Dominant showing. Best golfer in the world. (Beating a fresh-off-vacation World No. 2 Rory McIlroy by 25 sent an additional message, I’d say.)
Zak: If he found anything, it’s the age-old Tour truism that the best players are the best ball-strikers, just waiting for a great putting week. That’s what he had in Memphis: a classic Scheffler elite ball-striking week that coincides with a bunch of putts dropping. Something in the stroke felt freed up, and suddenly it feels like he might win the last two events of the season, too.
6. Noted golf enthusiast LeBron James has launched a golf-themed YouTube channel, with the aim of dropping monthly videos illuminating his journey in the sport. “I hope people will come along for the ride and just feel the sense of joy and all the fun we’re having out there,” James told our Dylan Dethier. “This is about my journey of falling in love with golf and you’ll see the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m loving every bit of it.” YouTube golf is a crowded market. Is there room for King James?
Schrock: Hand up, YouTube golf isn’t for me. I’m surprised there’s enough room for all those who already do it, but I do think LeBron could find a niche in the market — superstar athlete learns golf — that isn’t already tapped. Worth monitoring even if I won’t be watching.
Dethier: I have found it funny just how precious and protective people have already become about the world of YouTube Golf. I thought different was the whole point? I’m fascinated to see where LeBron’s golf obsession takes him; he’s currently at Bandon Dunes, as I understand it. As with everything on YouTube, if you don’t want to watch, feel free not to.
Zak: The tricky thing about YouTube golf is how all-consuming it becomes for its subjects. As Emma Devine and Josh Sens showed us in last week’s GOLF.com feature video (on YouTube, of course), the content creation game is a grind. It takes time and people and effort. Bryson DeChambeau shows us that, too. My instincts would be that LBJ doesn’t want it nearly as bad as the less-famous folks doing it alongside their accounting jobs.
7. If the extensive lines out the pro-shop door at the U.S. Amateur were any indication, Merion merch — powered by the club’s iconic wicker-basket logo — was a hot seller this week. Does Merion have the best logo in golf? If not, which club/course holds that distinction?
Schrock: Merion, Augusta National, Pasatiempo and Sleepy Hollow are probably the favorites, but I’m partial to Wildwood Golf Course in Portland, Oregon, with Bigfoot carrying a bag of clubs. Honorable mention to Whistling Straits.
Dethier: I like MacArthur’s milk jug, a nod to its dairy-farm past. I’m not much of a merch guy, but you do you, fellas. Get some sun, watch some golf, go for a walk and soak it all in. Life’s good.
Zak: I’m forever in love with Stanwich Club’s witch-riding-a-flagstick logo. Class.
