LIV heavyweights Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm struggling in majors

The affiliations of players with either the PGA Tour or LIV Golf have become less of a talking point, except to note their participation and victories. However, halfway through the major tournaments this year, a few LIV players have drawn attention for their lackluster performances.

Brooks Koepka, who typically performs well in majors when healthy, has now gone three consecutive majors without finishing in the top 25, a streak that began with The Open last summer. This year, he tied for 45th at the Masters and for 26th at the PGA Championship, despite a victory in a LIV event in between. When asked to evaluate his performance, Koepka candidly remarked, “Not very good. I think it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

Dustin Johnson, a two-time major champion, has also been underperforming. At Valhalla, he narrowly made the cut by birdieing three of the last five holes on Friday. This close call prevented him from missing three consecutive cuts in majors for the first time. Since joining LIV, Johnson has played in eight majors and has only twice finished inside the top 20, with a tie for 10th at last year’s U.S. Open and a tie for sixth at the 2022 Open at St. Andrews.

Jon Rahm, although a smaller sample size, has been noticeable due to his previous world ranking of No. 2 before joining LIV in December. As the defending Masters champion, Rahm nearly missed the cut at Augusta this year, only making it due to a change in the cut line caused by strong winds. He failed to break par during that tournament and subsequently missed the cut at the PGA Championship, ending his streak of 18 consecutive cuts made in majors, which was the longest active streak. This raises the stakes for his performance at the upcoming U.S. Open.