Jon Rahm bombshell: here’s what it means for LIV and the PGA Tour
HERE COMES THE MONEY: Masters champion Rahm bolted for Saudi-funded LIV Golf on Thursday for what's believed to be more money than the PGA Tour's entire prize fund. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/LIV Golf via AP)
JON Rahm has been saying that he plays golf for history and for legacy, not for money.
"I think the innovation and the vision of LIV Golf is what pushed me over to at least give it a chance and hear the pitch,” Rahm said in an interview with LIV broadcaster David Feherty. “Ultimately, it ended up being what I wanted to hear.”
How much? Rahm wasn’t sharing details, but it’s a lot. Various reports put it in the neighborhood of $500 million, which includes equity in his new team. Consider the entire prize fund on the PGA Tour in 2023 was about $460 million.
Rahm is the Masters champion, currently No. 3 in the world and has 20 victories in his seven full years as a pro. He is the biggest catch for LIV since it began in 2022. One of the knocks on LIV was that so many of its big names were in the twilights of their careers. Rahm is just coming into his prime, and seven of the last 14 major championship winners now are with LIV — Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
LIV players have won at least one major every year since 2015. Rahm gives the roster a major boost, and with a new team, that creates openings for more players to defect.
Rahm, Koepka and Rory McIlroy were the first players to denounce the idea of a Saudi-funded rival league even before LIV Golf was established. Since then, Rahm has spoken about his loyalty to the PGA Tour, how money doesn’t motivate him and as recently as August, he said he “laughs” when he heard rumours about him going to LIV.
If the PGA Tour was willing to do business with the Saudis, it raises a natural question: Is there any problem with a PGA Tour star joining them? “Obviously, the past two years there’s been a lot of evolving on the game of golf, things have changed a lot and so have I,” Rahm said.
Rahm is certain to lose fans over this, as have most marquee players who have gone to LIV. He said he has heard negativity before and it’s part of the business.
There was, but not for long. The framework agreement had a non-solicitation clause in which all sides agreed not to poach players. Just over a month later, they rescinded that clause on a request from the Justice Department over antitrust concerns.
That didn’t seem to be a problem for the tour back then.
The tour said in July, “While we believe the language is lawful, we also consider it unnecessary in the spirit of cooperation and because all parties are negotiating in good faith.” That no longer would seem to be the case.
He’s a lot richer. His career earnings on the PGA Tour were at $51.5 million and he’ll be getting somewhere around 10 times that much (the length of the LIV deal was not disclosed).
As Masters champion, he can play for life. He has a 10-year exemption to the U.S. Open as a champion (through 2031), and he has five-year exemptions to the PGA Championship and the British Open.
Still to be determined is the Ryder Cup. The European tour is in charge of its team, and no European from LIV was on the team this year that won in Rome. McIlroy said in a Sky Sports interview that Europe would need to change the rules to get Rahm on the team for 2025.
There’s also the possibility of Rahm keeping his European tour membership and paying fines for the tournaments he plays in LIV Golf. He can probably afford it.
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