Defending champion Jon Rahm says he can’t wait to take on the world’s best players when he attempts to retain his Masters crown at Augusta next month.
The Spaniard added that he hopes for a future where PGA Tour players and rival LIV Golf can “coexist”.
Rahm is banned from PGA Tour events after defecting to LIV in December.
“I just want to see the best in the world being able to compete with the best in the world again,” he said.
Discussions between the PGA and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which finances LIV Golf, continued on Monday in an attempt to make progress on a possible merger.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced plans for a shock merger with the PIF in June, but failed to reach an agreement before the original deadline of December 31, 2023.
Rahm, 29, will only be able to face his old PGA rivals in the four majors until a solution is found.
“I’m really looking forward to joining the rest of the best golfers in the world and competing in the Masters with them,” Rahm said.
“I suppose there will be quite a few who won’t be happy, but from my side, nothing changes. I still respect everyone on both sides and I respect golf above all else.
“I think there is a way to coexist and if there is some kind of union, I don’t know what that looks like.
“If some form of peace is achieved, I think that can really move the game forward.”
The Masters begins April 11 and Rahm is trying to become the fourth player to retain the title, and the first since Tiger Woods achieved the feat in 2001-02.
Rahm won three PGA titles last season, and his time at LIV Golf has seen him finish in the top 10 in each of his four appearances in 2024.
“For everyone who said it would be easy, some things have been, but not being able to defend certain titles that mean a lot to me is not,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully having a good week and a great final nine showdown on Sunday with some of these great players, because at the end of the day, that’s what golf and spectators deserve. “