Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they delve into the hottest topics in sports, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, WTGL and more.
1. This week’s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, the first DP World Tour playoff event, is headlined by Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, and Rahm and Hatton are just a couple of former LIV players to make their first start since announcing that they will not be part of LIV 2.0. You have one question to ask those guys in their pre-tournament press conference: What is it?
Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I can ask Rahm what I asked him at the PGA Championship this year: “What did you learn from your decision to go to LIV?” In May, he took a beating and said it was “for him to know.” I would still like the answer now that his LIV time is over.
James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): I would like to ask the following Q: Why did you leave? I think we all know the real answer is “money” – but these players’ careers will be defined by their decisions with LIV, and I think their accounting of why is important for future generations of golfers to know.
Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): Aside from any flack you took from fans and commentators, what was the worst thing about moving to LIV?
Nick Piastowski, Senior Editor (@nickpia): All good answers to questions! Let’s try a different path, in case we don’t have any comments. How about: How would you now explain LIV Golf to someone who’s been living under a rock since, say, 2026?
2. Rahm left for LIV as the defending Masters champion, but has failed to win a major since. Fair or not, LIV’s level of competition – and whether it keeps players strong enough for the majors – has become a frequent topic of debate. How do you expect Rahm to play now? Will being linked to LIV make a difference?
Schrock: It’s hard to say. It depends on how you prepare. What is his DP World Tour schedule before the four majors in 2027? I don’t think it’s unfair to say that being in LIV played a role in his big game. He is also still one of the best players in the world and will be a factor in majors more than he has been.
Hanging: I think he’s a great player who has a lot of great golf ahead of him. I think he will play better. I think being in a more meritocratic environment will make a difference.
Senses: Like James, I hope he will play better, but less for physical than mental reasons. Once the distractions of all the LIV-related questions fade into the background and he gets back into a rhythm, I suspect his head will be in a better place. If I were your sports psychologist, I would recommend this as a first step: admit to yourself – and possibly to the public too – that you did it only for the money and the money, and that you now realize that it was a mistake. That playing for the love of competition is what brought you to greatness in the first place. I think that kind of honesty would be liberating. Not that I’m holding my breath waiting.
Piastowski: Man, Sens’ answer here is pretty great. Maybe playing LIV events had something to do with Rahm’s major record. Maybe it wasn’t. Who’s to say he’d be 0-fer if he’d played PGA Tour golf? But coming to any major and being asked about LIV in some shape or form – or being remembered by fans – was going to weigh on him. Just because of that, I would expect him to play better.
3. The WTGL – Women’s Team Golf League – begins its first matchup of its inaugural season at the SoFi Center on Sunday with Michelle Wie West’s LA team taking on Lydia Ko’s New York team. Do you see the WTGL having similar success to the TGL, which begins its third season later this year? What is the key for the women’s league to thrive?
Schrock: I hope you do. It’s a great platform to showcase some personalities on the tour and for people to get to know players outside of the majors. But not having Nelly and not having the women playing in the same team as the men, I think it will be a big miss. I hope they can overcome it in year 1 and maybe integrate next winter (with Nelly in the fold!)
Hanging: I still don’t have a single compelling reason why a co-ed TGL league is worse and less profitable than two separate gender leagues.
Senses: Unfortunately, I think the past has shown that even when the women’s game puts out a product as good or better than the men’s, the same level of interest from the fans is not there. So, no. I don’t see the women’s league being as successful as the men’s.
Piastowski: Why – why? – do they play on NFL Sundays? Looking at the schedule, the WTGL faces NFL Sunday or NFL Monday in half of its 10 games. Every non-football league has problems with interest in the fall, especially a new one. I also agree with my colleagues above – we play mixed TGL.
4. Readers can check the rosters for each WTGL team here. Which team are you most excited to watch, and why?
Schrock: It’s LA only for Wie West. It was great to see his t-shirt up twice this year before saying goodbye, even if it didn’t perform the way I wanted. He is one of the great golf stars of the last century, and it is great that he will always be in our lives even if it is only in simulator format.
Hanging: Motor City! Jeeno Thitikul is an amazing character who deserves the full glare of the golf world. This league will be great for her.
Senses: Good choices above. Next, I’ll go with the Atlanta Drive. These events depend a lot on the quality of the banter. Most professional golfers aren’t particularly good at banter. But Charley Hull is.
Piastowski: Easy going. Boston Common, with Megan Khang, who said this in a pre-WTGL press conference: “I will admit that I will probably leave a couple of explicit words. … Fortunately, there is a little delay. There is a small button (beep), and this will be my best friend.”
5. Sergio Garcia announced that he will join the DP World Tour and is open to a return to the PGA Tour. His lengthy statement posted to social media was met with some criticism — including from pros Eddie Pepperell – because of the infamous ways Garcia left the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. What do you think of Sergio’s statement and the return? And the way in which some former players of LIV are received a major plot for the next season, or an overblown one?
Schrock: It’s definitely a great story. I think some guys will be received well, depending on how they left and how they choose to return to the ecosystem. We saw how Brooks was welcomed by almost everyone with open arms. It’s a product of who he is and how he’s gone without trying to screw up his former tours. Some, like Sergio, took a different route and things could be frostier on the way back.
Hanging: It is excessive. Most of these guys care a lot more about their own business than anyone else. The bad (good?) news for Sergio is that his career is almost certainly on its last gasp already, so there won’t be too much crow to eat.
Senses: Statements on social media are easy. I don’t have much stock in Garcia’s. Let’s see how things turn out. My guess is that the receiving players will be largely in line with how these players look before they leave. Those who have been well liked should be able to easily find favor with the fans. Those who were not will have a harder time. I think it’s fair to say that Garcia doesn’t rank high among fan favorites. Whether his reception will become a major story will depend on how he responds when he begins to receive the first applause of the Bronx, and how he behaves if he plays badly. His history suggests that he will make more news along these lines.
Piastowski: Fans will be interested in the return of Garcia and others. There will be stories about it. There will be curiosity. But I like Colgan’s answer: Professionals don’t care – much. I think, however, that Garcia could win over a few people to not completely forget his exit and the tour that he did from 2022.
6. Our Alan Bastable wrote about Stow Acres Country Club, a 27-hole public facility 30 miles west of Boston that recently offered a nine-hole 50-cent greens special. While a better deal may be hard to find, what’s your favorite value round you’ve played in 2026?
Schrock: I didn’t play golf as much as I wanted to in 2026, but I still enjoyed going home to play on the muni where I grew up and worked throughout high school: the Redmond Greens in Redmond, Oregon. Check it out if you’re in the Bend area!
Hanging: Amazing question. I snuck out for 18 holes walking to the Lake Placid Club, which has a few great holes allegedly designed by Alister MacKenzie, on a glorious May afternoon earlier this year. I played in 2.5 hours, and since the golf staff was out for the day when I arrived, I paid by leaving a $20 on the bank.
Senses: Waverley Golf Club in the North Island of New Zealand. About $20 dollars for a wild and wonderful course that could easily command a couple of hundred dollars in the US
Piastowski: I’m going a different route here, for obvious reasons. Best value round I guarded arrived at the end of July, when I walked with the only country club housed in a homeless shelter. You can see the video of everything scrolling immediately down.
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