LIV GOLF HONG KONG

March 3, 2026

Jon Rahm

Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling

Legion XIII

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the media center Jon Rahm, captain of Legion XIII. Thanks for joining us today. It's been a strong start to the season for you with LIV. You're actually leading the LIV Golf standings with two runner-up finishes in Riyadh and Adelaide.

How are you feeling coming into this week here in Hong Kong?

JON RAHM: I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. I look forward to this week as one of my favorite weeks of the year. It's a fantastic city and a really fun golf course to play, so this is definitely a highlight with many other great weeks.

Happy with my play so far. I wish I could have converted one of those wins. Obviously going to Sunday in Adelaide tied for the lead and even having a good cushion on the 5th tee with birdie chances coming after that, I'm kind of kicking myself.

Obviously I made a few mistakes, but Anthony Kim played one of the best rounds of golf I've ever seen anybody play, so very well deserved. I just wish I would have had a better chance coming down 18.

Besides that, yeah, looking forward to the rest of the year, as well. I've obviously been playing really good golf, and I'm hoping to continue that form.

Q. Touching on this golf course maybe a little bit more, can you speak to what it is you really like about this venue, about this course and the test it provides?

JON RAHM: I think we say the word traditional golf course sometimes, and with that, I think it just means that it's a golf course that was built a long time ago. It's a bit narrower, trickier.

Unfortunately it's become a little short for nowadays golf standards, but it gives you a lot of options tee to green, and you can be as aggressive as you want and lay back as much as you want and make the hole play different ways.

Usually we have different wind directions here, tricky green complexes. A hole like 8, a fairly long par-3 with a tricky green where if you miss it, par is severely in jeopardy. Fun holes like 10 with a slow green and legit just lay up with a 4-iron and a wedge, and it can be tricky, right, even though you're looking for a birdie.

A great par-3 like 12; holes like 18 where you can hit driver, you can hit 4-iron, you can do whatever you want. So there's a lot of versatility and variety to this golf course, which are some of the reasons why it can be so fun.

It all depends on how firm it can get based on the weather. It does look we're going to get some rain today, but if it can get a little bit firmer and faster, it can be a nice challenge.

Q. The LIV Golf league really prides and focuses on being at the center of sport, entertainment, and culture where each event obviously golf is at the core, but you've got music and food and art, and it looks to travel to regions and parts of the world like Hong Kong that also seem to embody that. For you when you're traveling with the league and in a place like Hong Kong, is there anything in particular you like to take advantage of, whether it's food or otherwise, and how does that work together for the experience?

JON RAHM: I try to enjoy where I'm at as much as possible. There is cities that have a lot more to offer than others. This one is definitely one that has a lot to offer: great food, great entertainment options, and just a lot of fun if you have the time and you decide to explore.

If I can, I try. But for the most part, once you get to maybe a Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, it all depends on the tee times where you're playing, how far the golf course is; you may not have that much free time.

Particularly this week or a week like Singapore, as an example, are two that you can definitely enjoy the city a little bit, even the tee times and how much it has to offer, and Hong Kong is one of them.

I wish -- it's not as easy, right. I wish every week we played was a venue as fun as this one.

Q. Can I get your thoughts and feelings on the DP World Tour events from about a week ago, the eight players --

JON RAHM: What events?

Q. The eight players paying the fines --

JON RAHM: I thought you meant tournaments. I was starting to think about where they played a week ago in Africa.

What do you mean?

Q. Your thoughts and feelings, your position on it? Obviously you weren't part of that group, so what your position is now.

JON RAHM: Well, my position hasn't changed in a week. I don't like what they're doing currently with the contract they're having us sign. I don't like the conditions. They're asking me to play a minimum of six events, and they dictate where two of those have to be, amongst other things that I don't agree with.

If we just go based on that -- I've been a dual member my whole career, PGA TOUR and DP World Tour. Now with LIV Golf being accepted in the world rankings as part of the ecosystem, you could almost say a three-tour member, even though I'm suspended from the PGA TOUR.

But I've always been a dual member. Never once have I been asked for a release to play either one of those tours. We've never submitted a release. So why is it now that we need to be offering this and there's all these penalties? I understand why they're doing it. What's the problem?

Given also the fact that two years ago I was asked to appeal the fines so they could figure this out and sort it out and I did and we're running into more problems right now.

I just don't like the situation. I think we should be able to freely play where we want and have the choice to play where we want and not be dictated what we do. Especially myself. I can't speak for others; only myself.

I've always committed to play the minimum requirement, and I think I've played four events, including the Spanish Open, every year except one as a pro, and I commit to do that. That's not going to change. I still fully intend to do that.

Now, with the LIV and the major schedule I don't think I'm going to be able to do so until our playoffs or our last events are done. But given on the back nine, right, we have the Omega Masters, I believe, Irish Open, Wentworth, French, Dunhill, Spain.

Out of those events, I would love to play my four in there given I'm going to the Spanish Open, three of those I am going to play, and I fully intend to play three of those. I would love to.

I don't know what game they're trying to play right now, but it just seems like in a way they're using us to -- they're using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer, and it's just in a way they're extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game.

So I don't like the situation and I'm not going to agree to that.

Now, I did tell them, funny enough, lower that to four events, like the minimum says, and I'll sign tonight. They haven't agreed to that. I just refuse to play six events. I don't want to, and that's not what the rules say.

Q. You obviously talk about you can't speak for other people, but obviously you and Tyrrell are close. Tyrrell is in that group. Can you talk a little bit about how that conversation went?

JON RAHM: I respect Tyrrell's decision. That's all I have to say. He's free to make his own choice, and I fully respect it.

Q. Obviously Rory was a little bit cheeky when he came out with that quote about saying you'd been on the Americans about wanting to be paid; now you had an opportunity to prove you would pay. Any reaction to that at all?

JON RAHM: I think I responded to that a few weeks ago and I said, that statement would make a lot more sense if all 12 of us were being asked to pay, not only just the two of us. There's more intricacy that goes into this whole situation, right. While I understand why he's saying that, we all do it for the love of the game, it's a different situation than what we usually see.

I'll gladly pay my way to go on the Ryder Cup, not have to pay to still be a member of the DP World Tour and fulfill a commitment that I'm fully willing to commit.

Q. With Hong Kong hosting the first time of the 72-hole stroke-play event, what challenges does that come with for you?

JON RAHM: Having to play one more round. I was a proponent for it, somebody that supported it, so I'm really happy. I think playing more rounds, more golf is better competition, better for the fans, and better for whoever is playing good golf.

So I support it. I'm excited.

Q. Any challenges behind that?

JON RAHM: The only one would be travel. Not necessarily for the first week, but when you're traveling like next week going to Singapore, having one less day to possibly rest.

But we're already there. Whether we play on Thursday or not, it doesn't really make much of a difference.

Q. Going back to the start of the season, a couple of runner-ups. Going back to last season, you finished with two runner-ups, ended up shooting 60 in the final round there. I think it's five of the last six LIV events you've been runner-up. When you look at that, how much are you encouraged by the form that you're showing? Obviously you keep knocking on the door, at some point it's going to happen again. Or where do you balance the encouragement versus the frustration level, or is there a balance?

JON RAHM: We're talking about events that are five months apart, so you can't take it as the last six starts because there's a lot of golf in between. Play some events on the DP World Tour in between those and didn't finish as high as I would have liked.

But playing good golf, right. Obviously there's different reasons to that second place loss, two playoffs. Got unfortunate with the flagstick on the last one in Indianapolis. Had a birdie chance on the first playoff against Dean and Josele and wasn't able to make it.

It just means you're playing good golf. Winning is never easy, and I'm happy that I'm putting myself in position to possibly do so.

Out of all of those, I kick myself more at the last tournament because it's the one where I felt like I made the most amount of mistakes on a Sunday.

Q. Even when you see a guy, just he can't miss a putt?

JON RAHM: 100 percent. He played incredible golf. Just I shot 1-under when people were shooting 4-, 5-, 6-under. Even though it was tricky I played good enough to at least give myself a better chance.

Had I shot a low score or a good round and Anthony still beat me then so be it. He played better and he was the better man. But I just didn't have -- compared to the rest of the week, that Sunday felt like a bit more of a letdown than others.

Q. Just wanted to ask, obviously it's a massive stage now, especially heading to the Masters. What is your game looking like, especially with this tournament and then Singapore and South Africa and then you have to head off to Augusta? How do you mentally prepare yourself for the next few weeks?

JON RAHM: I think we all have a different process of how we approach the short-term goals coming this week and the months ahead. I've had a really good off-season and I feel like I've been doing things really, really well, so keep focusing on that.

All I can do is take it by day by day and week to week. When we are playing these three events, the goal is to play good and hopefully win those. The switch for the Masters kind of happens automatically, but there's things you can be working on in those weeks that could help for Augusta.

It's impossible to replicate Augusta National, but there's things in competition you can do to, in a sense, try to practice for the Masters, right. So that's what I intend to do. But then we have two weeks before Augusta to kind of narrow the focus down, as well.

Q. What are those kind of improvements that you're looking to do?

JON RAHM: I will not be sharing that publicly. It changes every year because our game -- at least my game can feel to be in a different state each time. It's an adjustment each time the process comes around. But there's just basic things at Augusta that you have to do well. Depending on how I feel where my game is at is what I'll be working on more or less. It's such a demanding golf course that everything is important.