I’ll say upfront: I’m a big Jon Rahm fan. The last time I really followed him week to week on the PGA Tour, he won the Genesis Invitational at Riviera back in 2023, holding off Max Homa and Patrick Cantlay down the stretch to climb back to World No. 1. That guy was, and still is, one of the most talented players on the planet. This isn’t a “LIV bad” post. I don’t dislike any of these guys as competitors. I just watched the 2026 US Open at Shinnecock Hills and it reminded me how much I miss seeing them tested every single week.
What Happened at Shinnecock
The cut came and went this week, and it wasn’t kind to LIV’s biggest names. Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning storyline of “LIV golfer who can still win majors” after his 2024 US Open title, shot a five-over 75 in round two, three-putting twice early and bogeying his way home. He missed the cut by one shot. It’s his third straight missed cut at a major.
Rahm’s was tougher to watch. He played his first round bogey-free, then strung together five straight pars to open Friday before it all came apart, four bogeys and a double bogey in a five-hole stretch sent him to six-over and out of the weekend.
They weren’t alone. Of LIV’s 13 entries into the field, only six made the cut, and none of them are sitting higher than T-35. The list of LIV players who missed the weekend reads like a who’s-who: DeChambeau, Rahm, Carlos Ortiz, Lucas Herbert, Cameron Smith, David Puig, and Graeme McDowell. Tyrrell Hatton was the best-placed LIV golfer to survive, and he was nine shots off the lead.
Why This Stings a Little
These are major champions. Rahm has two majors. DeChambeau has two US Opens. This isn’t a depth problem, it’s a sharpness problem. LIV’s 54-hole, no-cut, smaller-field format is a different sport from a four-round US Open on a course like Shinnecock, where the rough punishes one bad swing and the greens punish one bad read. It’s hard not to wonder whether playing a lighter schedule against a smaller field most of the year costs these guys the competitive edge they need when the toughest test of the year shows up.
And the timing makes it sting more. Saudi Arabia’s PIF is reportedly pulling its funding from LIV at the end of this season, so a week like this, at a major, with the league’s future already in question, isn’t just a rough Friday. It’s a bad look at a bad time.
What I Actually Want
I don’t want to see Bryson or Rahm or anyone else on LIV fail. I want to see them play. Every week, against Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, the guys currently going toe-to-toe for major titles. Watching Rahm grind it out at Riviera in 2023 was great theater specifically because the field was stacked and the stakes were real every single Sunday. That’s what’s missing now, and a missed-cut Friday at the US Open is the clearest reminder of it.
Maybe next year looks different. For now, here’s hoping the guys we know can really play get back to playing against the best, more than four times a year.