Report:Jon Rahm is leaving for LIV Golf. Here’s what it means for LIV and the PGA Tour

Jon Rahm is leaving for LIV Golf. Here’s what it means for LIV and the PGA Tour

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.

This creates as many questions as answers, from who Rahm brings with him to how it affects the PGA Tour’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on a commercial deal

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.

WHY NOW?

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 hears rumors about him going to LIV.

Look back to June 6, when the PGA Tour went from battling LIV Golf to a shocking announcement of its private deal to partner with the Public Investment Fund, the financial backers of LIV. Rahm said a week later, “I think the general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from management.”

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.