LIV Golf ignores Jon Rahm, Cam Smith’s plea as it relates to Open Championship prep for 2025

LIV Golf has unveiled more events as part of its 2025 schedule, which features familiar spots and new locales, such as South Korea and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Yet, the Saudi-backed circuit ignored a request from Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith. Both major champions wanted LIV to stage an event at a links course prior to The Open Championship, hoping that it would better prepare them for golf’s oldest major.

Instead, the league will return to Southern Spain from Jul. 11-13, the week before Royal Portrush hosts The Open in Northern Ireland for a second time. Valderrama Golf Club, the site of the 1997 Ryder Cup that often draws comparisons to Augusta National, will host a LIV tournament for the third straight year. It’s the second consecutive season in which this course will stage this event immediatley before The Open.

Valderrama is no doubt a phenomenal golf course, one of the highlights of the LIV Golf season. But the problem lies with its place on the calendar. The golf course—along with the climate—differs significantly from what players will face at The Open the following week. It’s no wonder why so many PGA Tour stars tee it up at the Genesis Scottish Open the week before The Open each year. They want to get accustomed to the weather and links golf, a completely different style of play.

“It was really two polar opposites of golf,” Smith said to news.com.au on Oct. 30 about this past year, which featured LIV Golf’s Valderrama event and The Open in back-to-back weeks.

“It was really hot [at Valderrama], and the ball was going a long way up in altitude, and then getting on to links [at Royal Troon], where it’s quite cold and windy, it’s probably not the best prep.”

Three days after this past year’s Open at Royal Troon, ahead of LIV Golf’s event in the United Kingdom, Rahm told Golf Digest’s Evin Priest that he would like to see a LIV Golf event held on a links-style course ahead of The Open—similar to what the PGA Tour does at The Renaissance Club with the Genesis Scottish Open.

“I’m pushing for it,” Rahm said to Golf Digest on Jul. 24.

“There’s so much that goes into adjusting to links golf, getting used to the greens and the ball reacting on the ground. I didn’t think about it until after [Royal Troon], but it’s undeniable how much it helps to play a links golf course the week before the Open.”

Many LIV golf stars—other than Rahm—struggled to get acclimated to the conditions this past July. Smith, who won at St. Andrews in 2022, opened with a 9-over 80 and missed the cut at Royal Troon. Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion, also failed to make the weekend.

Overall, five of the 16 LIV players in the field missed the cut, while only three finished among the top 20. Rahm tied for seventh, finishing eight strokes back of champion Xander Schauffele.

Maybe their results would have been better if LIV staged an event in the British Isles before The Open Championship. Rahm and Smith certainly feel that way.