Jon Rahm will compete in the Scottish Open for the first time since 2022, a rare PGA Tour-and-DP World Tour co-sanctioned stop that fits a membership-minimum requirement and comes after LIV’s New Orleans event was postponed indefinitely. Rahm’s wider 2026 sche
Jon Rahm is adding the Scottish Open to his summer schedule in a moment when pro golf’s biggest battleground isn’t just a fairway—it’s membership rules, eligibility, and who gets to compete where.
Rahm will take part in the Scottish Open for the first time since 2022. The tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. and that matters because Rahm remains in a unique position. He has been playing the majority of his golf on LIV events. but he is also competing in a specific number of DP World Tour events to meet a membership minimum.
The field is split nearly evenly between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. setting up a showdown Rahm doesn’t often get outside of major championships. The Scottish Open takes place a few weeks before the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in England. which means his schedule is being shaped not only by competition. but by timing.
Rahm’s return to the Scottish Open is also bound up in a longer dispute that has hovered over his status for 2026. For most of the past decade he has been an integral part of Ryder Cup Europe. But as of two months ago. he was still battling the DP World Tour—an organization that owns most of the European side of the Ryder Cup—over how he would retain membership for next season and keep eligibility for the 2026 Cup in Ireland.
After a months-long standoff, Rahm agreed to a deal with the DP World Tour. The agreement requires him to settle any outstanding fines and play five tournaments this year, with a few events selected by the DP World Tour.
The DP World Tour has been active in shaping fields. but it has also been selective about who gets a clean path. It reached agreements with Tyrrell Hatton. Thomas Detry and six other European LIV golfers ahead of the 2026 season. allowing them to play LIV events without being punished by sanctions. Those deals depend on the players competing in an increased minimum number of events as well as a few DP World Tour-picked tournaments.
Detry, for example, is playing in Belgium this week at the Soudal Open, according to the deal he signed. Same for Adrian Meronk.
Rahm fought for months over these adjusted minimums for LIV players before reaching his own agreement. He said he always intended to play the Irish Open. the BMW PGA Championship. the Spanish Open and the Dunhill Links. Under the new deal, he was required to add a fifth event. The Scottish Open is the one he will add, a decision confirmed over the weekend.
The practical payoff for Rahm—beyond satisfying the membership math—is the kind of competition he gets there. He recently went toe-to-toe at a major championship and finished tied for second. just ahead of Rory McIlroy. Scottie Scheffler. Xander Schauffele and others. Those are the names he tends to see most often only at majors in a full stroke-play setting. Outside that. his matchups against players like Collin Morikawa. Jordan Spieth. and Justin Thomas have been more limited to featured groups at the biggest events.
There is also a timing angle: the Scottish Open could serve as an unusually direct reminder of what he brings when he’s facing a full field instead of an event built around partial overlaps. He also has a concrete record at the tournament. He finished T55 in 2022 and posted a solo seventh in 2021. but he hasn’t competed there since becoming a LIV golfer.
While it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Rahm officially decided to play. LIV’s recent financial news made the option more likely. He was scheduled to compete in LIV’s New Orleans event at the end of June. but it was postponed indefinitely. The reason was tied to the Saudi PIF announcement that it would stop funding LIV after the season. Funding that had already been paid to LIV by the state of Louisiana is expected to be returned.
With that sudden gap in his schedule, Rahm will now play the Scottish Open the week before the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in England. LIV then heads a couple hours south for its England event the week after the Open.
A win in Scotland wouldn’t change Rahm’s membership status—he did not resign his PGA Tour membership when he left for LIV. Still, the stakes feel sharper than a typical early-summer tune-up. According to DataGolf, he ranks as the No. 2 player in the world. has been in DataGolf’s top 10 for the past 7.5 years. and has now lined up another chance to measure himself against the kind of field most often reserved for majors.
For Rahm, the Scottish Open isn’t just another week on the calendar. It’s a rare meeting point between tours, rules, and a changed LIV landscape—one where the uncertainty isn’t hypothetical, and every tee shot carries more weight than usual.
Jon Rahm Scottish Open LIV Golf DP World Tour PGA Tour Ryder Cup Europe 2026 Open Championship Royal Birkdale