Jon Rahm says he won't be part of the next version of LIV Golf

Spanish star Jon Rahm won't be part of the next version of LIV Golf, dealing a setback to the beleaguered circuit as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy and forge a new path without the financial muscle of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

John Beck, the attorney Rahm hired for LIV's bankruptcy proceedings, said during a Wednesday hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey that Rahm reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0 and decided he would not be participating in 2027.

Rahm, a Masters and U.S. Open champion and the last player to be No. 1 in the world before Scottie Scheffler, was among the biggest and most stunning acquisitions by LIV Golf at the end of 2023 when he was the reigning Masters champion.

Rahm had said in May he has several years left on his contract. His signing bonus, never confirmed, was reported to be in the $300 million range.

While the hearing was confirmation he wants out of LIV — he had not answered questions directly most of the summer — the decision was not surprising.

The court earlier this week allowed Sergio Garcia to end his contract when the 46-year-old Spaniard and former Masters champion asked for clarification on his status. Garcia was among the first to defect to LIV in 2022.

Still to come was formal separation from LIV Golf and word on where Rahm would play next. The PGA Tour has said it would not hold conversations with any LIV player still legally under contract. Beck declined to comment when reached by phone.

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp brought back five-time major champion Brooks Koepka with heavy financial stipulations at the start of this year, after Koepka negotiated an end to his LIV contract. Rolapp offered the deal to three other major champions, including Rahm, giving them a two-week deadline to decide. None took the offer.

Two months later, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia said it would no longer bankroll the rival league after the 2026 season.

The PGA Tour did not immediately comment on Rahm’s decision.

Rahm's plans were revealed two days after BC Partners Credit announced an initial investment payment to LIV Golf 2.0, which still requires approval, that would allow the league to move forward with a team-focused theme in which players would be equity owners.

Part of LIV's amended restructuring support agreement extended the deadline for players who decide whether they want to stick around for LIV 2.0.

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil had said Monday: "We believe deeply in the future of this league and in the opportunity to build something distinctive alongside our players. We’re delivering on our major milestones, and while there is still work ahead, today marks meaningful progress toward a player-owned, team-focused, truly global league that complements the wider game and creates new opportunities for players, fans, partners and the next generation of golfers.”

Rahm was the individual points champion each of the last three years, when the prize money was $20 million for individual competition and bonuses were awarded for the points race. His total earnings from LIV over the last three years topped $100 million.

Rahm withdrew this week from the Spanish Open because his wife, Kelley, is home in Arizona expecting their fourth child. He remains a European tour member and plans to play in Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the end of the year.

The PGA Tour typically bans players for one year after their last LIV event, though it made an exception for Koepka. Bryson DeChambeau, among those who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tour when LIV began, has not indicated any desire to return.

Rolapp has consistently said he wants what's best for the PGA Tour, and Rahm is LIV's best player as a former No. 1. He is still at No. 15 despite limited access to world ranking points.

See AP’s full golf coverage here

FILE - Captain Jon Rahm of Legion XIII celebrates after putting on the 18th hole green during the final round of HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong at Hong Kong Golf Club Fanling, Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Hong Kong. (Mike Stobe/LIV Golf via AP, File)

FILE - Captain Jon Rahm of Legion XIII reads his putt during the final round of LIV Golf Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026 in Bedminster, N.J. (Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — FBI agents thwarted a terror attack by a teenager on the Mall of America after monitoring him for nearly two years and ultimately supplying him with the assault rifle he planned to use, authorities said Wednesday.

The 18-year-old had been on the FBI's radar since December 2024, when he began trading messages with a confidential informant. A criminal complaint says he initially expressed an interest in traveling overseas to fight for the extremist group al-Shabab. As his plans to instead attack the mall solidified, it says, agents sold him an AK-47 and ammunition on Tuesday and arrested him on the spot.

“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said. Agents “were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people.”

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, several miles northwest of the Mall of America, after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for the rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, the agency said.

Mohamud appeared in a yellow jail uniform for his initial appearance Wednesday in federal court in St. Paul. He told the judge he did not have a job, own a house or a car, or have any money in the bank. He was represented by Siri Carlson McDowell, a federal public defender. Carlson McDowell and relatives of Mohamud declined to comment after the hearing.

According to an FBI agent's sworn complaint, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed in chat messages to the informant that he intended to attack and kill non-Muslims at the mall on Oct. 24, the date of a scheduled Hmong arts celebration.

When the informant asked if he was serious about committing the attack, Mohamud replied, “yes i am 100% sure," the complaint said, and added: “I would have backed out by now if I wasn't sure.”

Rosen said Mohamud is an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent. The agent wrote that Mohamud's messages expressed admiration for recent terror attacks as well as an interest in traveling to Somalia to join ISIS. Ultimately he decided he couldn’t afford to travel there and would attack the mall instead, the complaint said.

The teen first came to the FBI’s attention in December 2024, the same month the source began exchanging messages with him, the complaint said. By May 2025, agents were concerned enough that they went to his home. His mother told them he wasn’t home from school yet and called the boy’s father, who declined to speak with them and said he would give their contact information to his lawyer, the complaint said.

“What I would say to parents all over Minnesota, and all over America: If you get any indication — especially if you hear from federal law enforcement — that your son or daughter is being radicalized, to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded,” Rosen said.

Tens of thousands of people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, dating back to when refugees began arriving in the 1990s. Over the years several have been charged with attempting to join ISIS or other terror groups.

Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporter Philip Marcelo in New York contributed.

Daniel Rosen, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, center, speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Bloomington, Minn., Police Chief Booker Hodges speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Daniel Rosen, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)