While the top end of the Masters leaderboard tends not to throw up too many surprises year on year, the bottom end often does.
In 2024, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland all missed the cut. The year before, Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas and even Rory McIlroy failed to play the weekend.
This year, DeChambeau has fallen again. When needing a bogey at the last, DeChambeau took two to get out of a greenside bunker and failed to chip in from there.
Rahm and DeChambeau cut contrasting figures after their first round. Rahm was clearly dejected but maintained a positive outlook: "Tomorrow's a new day." DeChambeau on the other hand was terse with the media; five of the eight questions put to DeChambeau were about his 3D-printed 5-iron.
Rahm, to an extent, was able to almost shrug off his round in a "that's golf" way and fought back to make the cut on the number. DeChambeau had more questions to face, partly owing to his bunker shot on 18, after which he angrily asked why he kept hooking the ball. His unique iron setup certainly plays a part in his frequent left miss, but his and Rahm's struggles may well be part of a bigger problem, and one they have little control over: LIV.
The move from three rounds to four for LIV was certainly a step in the right direction, but it's amusing to look at the rigid schedule of players who left the PGA Tour ostensibly seeking more freedom and a better work-life balance. Rahm said in his pre-tournament press conference that he preferred to have the week off before a major, and while that's been granted this year, it's something he has no control over anymore.
Whether it's entirely fair or not, fingers will be pointed at LIV whenever the likes of Rahm and DeChambeau struggle in the biggest events. DeChambeau, to his credit, played his best golf since coming out of Covid last year, reflected in major finishes of T5-T2-MC-T10. Rahm, however, hasn't been at his best in majors since his high-profile switch to LIV. The then-Masters champion was T45 in his title defence, missing the cut at the PGA Championship, missing the US Open altogether through injury before a T7 at The Open.
2025 wasn't much better with a rallying T14 at Augusta before falling out of contention at the PGA Championship late on to finish T8. Rahm was T7 at the US Open before finishing T34 at The Open.
Despite seeing the weekend, Rahm won't be challenging the leaders.
Of course it's worth mentioning that LIV players have performed well in majors including this one. Brooks Koepka found himself in the final group at Augusta three years ago, Patrick Reed was third last year, Phil Mickelson even rolled back the years to finish T2 in 2023. DeChambeau even won a second US Open title in 2024.
But the previous LIV schedule featured a Florida event the week before the Masters. In the last two years, the event was held at Trump National Doral, the former PGA Tour stop.
Something notable about that particular venue is it's a massive course that requires immaculate ball-striking. The other is that the last four winners of the WGC-Cadillac, the PGA Tour event which was hosted at Doral, were Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods -- all of whom had either won or would go on to win at Augusta.
The year before was Justin Rose, three-time Masters runner-up. Two years prior was Ernie Els, two-time runner-up. The year before was Phil Mickelson.
The correlation is clear and the venue provided ideal Masters prep in many ways. Last year's Masters leaderboard saw Reed finish solo third, two shots back of the play-off, DeChambeau played in the final group, Tyrrell Hatton -- who's previously spoken out about how 'unfair' Augusta is -- finished T9 and T14 after playing Doral. Rahm and even forgotten man Bubba Watson were also T14 last year.
Changes to this year's LIV schedule meant there was to be no Florida warm-up. The LIV stars' last outing was a nonsense event in South Africa where the rounds of the day were 63, 64, 62 and 63, in which -26 was only good enough for a play-off.
Compare to the PGA Tour where following the Players Championship, Masters hopefuls could take on the demanding Copperhead Course at Innisbrook for the Valspar Championship or head to Texas for the Texas Children's Houston Open (attended by the 2024 and 2025 Masters winners) or TPC San Antonio the Valero Texas Open. The runner-up at those events finished with scores of -10, -16 and -16.
Much of the discourse around LIV was how golfers should be treated as independent contractors and be able to play where and when they wanted, which is all well and good, but they're all contracted to play every LIV tourmament. No LIV golfer is asking for a release from the South Africa event to play in the Valspar Championship. Even on their weeks off they don't have the option to peg it up alongside PGA Tour players due to their suspension from the circuit.
The likes of Rahm and to an extent DeChambeau must be looking at what Reed and Koepka have done since leaving. Reed has already won two DP World Tour events in 2026 and will return to the PGA Tour next season, while Koepka, though still waiting for his first PGA Tour win since switching, no longer looks lost as he did for much of his time with LIV.
Ultimately, golfers of Rahm and DeChambeau's calibre will be measured by their performances in majors and everything else must be geared towards that.
With two majors each, the pair must consider whether LIV is helping them add to that.
