LIV Golf want to lure Masters champion Jon Rahm away from the PGA Tour – but the successful Spaniard hopes to continue playing in golf’s majors and the Ryder Cup.
Rumors of Jon Rahm and his $600m (about £475m) move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf aren’t going away anytime soon.
LIV leaders are trying to persuade the reigning Masters champion, who often seems reluctant to criticize the Saudi-backed circuit, to become one of its leading stars. And it’s easy to understand why he would leave the PGA Tour after Rory McIlroy’s recent payday.
Last month, McIlroy won the Player Impact Program, an award given to the golfer who has had the greatest financial impact on the PGA Tour. The award also recognizes McIlroy’s ability to develop the sport and was created in 2021, just before the start of the LIV Tour.
The award came with a hefty check of $15 million (£12 million), which is nothing compared to what LIV bosses offer their biggest stars. If this rumor is to be believed, Rahm could soon become LIV’s highest-paid superstar.
It remains unclear whether Rahm will accept her LIV offer. In a speech last year, he urged his colleagues to be “grateful” for the creation of LIV. Because LIV has allowed the PGA Tour to improve its game. He is also able to “recognize the attraction that others have for his LIV.”
Rahm, who also won the U.S. Open, has criticized LIV’s 54-hole format and wants to continue competing in golf’s biggest event. “For me, Shotgun Three Days is not a golf tournament or a cut,” the Spaniard previously admitted. “It’s that simple.”
Still, LIV’s stars continue to play in golf’s biggest events, including Brooks Koepka winning his PGA Championship this year.
Koepka also played in the Ryder Cup in October as a wild card. If such tournaments were still being held, the appeal of attending LIV would be even greater.
PGA Tour supporters are trying to convince Rahm to stay on the tour. “I really hope he (Rahm) stays with us,” three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, who recently joined the PGA Tour’s policy committee, said last week.
Rahm recently withdrew from the TGL, a new tournament founded by McIlroy and 15-time major champion Tiger his Woods in conjunction with his PGA Tour. His decision to quit TGL only fueled the LIV rumors.
Rahm has previously maintained that he is not doing it for the money, which makes his case even more interesting. If the two-time major champion joins LIV for golf rather than financial reasons, there would be a big question mark over the future of the PGA Tour.
Fellow golfer Eddie Pepperell tweeted earlier this month: “This idea that ‘everybody has a price’ is nonsense, and untrue. And it demotes human beings in terms of their capacity to have principles and stick to them. That being said, Rahm seems a loyal guy so if he goes, it spells trouble for the PGAT (PGA Tour) leadership, and probably rightly so.”
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