This one hurts the worst.
It cut to the PGA Tour’s core.
Drew blood.
When Phil Mickelson jumped to LIV Golf and became the face of the upstart Saudi-backed tour, he was dismissed by the PGA Tour as a greedy contrarian gone rogue, out for whatever was best for Phil Mickelson.
When Dustin Johnson went to LIV, he was viewed as aloof and disengaged and not a face of the PGA Tour.
When Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV, they were both looked upon as lone wolves who were low on the PGA Tour popularity list and who were both battling injuries that pushed them to cash in on the guaranteed millions LIV was offering.
When Cam Smith joined LIV, he was No. 2 in the world and fresh off winning the 2021 British Open, but the Australian was never viewed by the PGA Tour as one of its charismatic faces.
Jon Rahm, though?
Jon Rahm, the No. 3-ranked player in the world, announced Thursday he’s joining LIV Golf. APOuch.
When news broke Thursday confirming weeks of rumors that the 29-year-old Spaniard — who’s ranked No. 3 in the world, the defending Masters champion and has been one of the PGA Tour’s most ardent public supporters — was signing on with LIV for a reported sum that could reach $600 million, that shook the foundation of the PGA Tour’s shiny new headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
Rahm’s departure hurts the PGA Tour worse than any of the previous players going to LIV.
By a lot.
Rahm joining LIV is proof of this: Every player has his price.
Rahm has never been a LIV detractor publicly, always taking the high road and supporting those who made the move while professing his love for the PGA Tour and support of Monahan. One of his common refrains when asked about the ungodly amounts of money the Saudis have paid its players to join has been that money has never been a motivator for him as a golfer.
This was Rahm at the 2022 U.S. Open: “I’ve never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I have always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that.’’
This was Rahm on a Thursday night conference call after his move to LIV was made official when he was asked what role the money played in his decision: “It’s one of the reasons, I’m not going to sit here and lie to you. It’s one of the reasons.”
Jon Rahm and LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman pose for a photo in New York on Thursday. APRahm, too, bleeds to play in the Ryder Cup, to follow his Spanish heroes, Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, who cemented their respective legacies in it.
This was Rahm on Thursday night’s call: “What they had to offer was worth the risk of maybe not playing a Ryder Cup.”
McIlroy believes this Rahm move may change the scope of the game as is stands today, with both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour essentially shunning LIV players, tacitly banning them from the Ryder Cup. The European Tour, for example, stripped Henrik Stenson of his 2023 captaincy after he joined LIV.
“Jon is gonna be at Bethpage in 2025,’’ McIlroy told reporters Thursday about the next Ryder Cup. “Because of this decision, the European Tour are gonna have to rewrite the rules for Ryder Cup eligibility.’’
The Rahm signing is LIV’s biggest and most impactful going forward, particularly with the Dec. 31 deadline for the PGA Tour and LIV to consummate that “framework agreement’’ — whatever exactly that is.
The five best players in the world are Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm, Koepka and Smith. Three of those five players are with LIV Golf now. Even the most ardent LIV detractors cannot ignore this fact.
No player captured the impact of Rahm’s move more spot-on than Englishman Justin Rose.
“This is a huge part of the jigsaw puzzle that you’ve seen Jon go,” Rose told Sports Illustrated at Thursday’s Grant Thornton Invitational pro-am. “I don’t know who else goes with Jon. I mean, obviously if it’s just Jon, that’s bad enough. What does that mean now to the trickle if it’s Jon plus a trickle?
“We’re all trying to evaluate PGA Tour versus LIV in the sense of the fan base and the economics around both tours, but he’s the delta. He moves the delta. He weakens one side and strengthens the other. So, it’s a big move … a huge coup for LIV [and a] huge blow for PGA Tour.’’
Yes, this one hurts the PGA Tour badly. It hurts the worst.
