LIV Golf rebel Jon Rahm has been suspended by the PGA Tour.
The circuit told the players of Rahm’s punishment for switching to the Saudi-backed league in a memo on Monday.
Suspensions for joining LIV Golf became common practice when every PGA Tour player who competed in the first LIV event in June 2022 suffered the same fate.
11 players subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tour in August of the same year, but this legal action was eventually dropped.
The tour sanctioned the Masters champion to “ensure that suspended members do not negatively impact other players’ tournament eligibility, position on the priority rankings or eligibility to compete in the Playoffs and Signature Events.”
Therefore, the Spaniard’s results from last season won’t count in the points list which affects eligibility for the 2024 season.
This is music to the ears of Mackenzie Hughes who now hops one place to 50th in the rankings, awarding him a spot in the eight signature events with $20 million payouts.
Carl Yuan has also been offered a reprieve by moving to 125th in the rankings. This means the 26-year-old from China will keep his card next season.
“I found a great platform on the PGA Tour and I am forever grateful for the platform they have given me,” Rahm said after completing his shock move.
“If I’m lucky and things go well in the future, I still want to be part of that platform.
“LIV Golf gives me the freedom to play golf when it doesn’t conflict with the PGA Tour or DP World Tour and I certainly want to be part of that in the future.”
Did the PGA Tour address other issues in the memo?
A group of anonymous PGA Tour players circulated a petition to the membership on December 2.
The petition called for a “special meeting” to discuss FedEx Cup points allocations in the Signature Events compared with full field events.
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The unnamed players also wanted to discuss the number of Signature Events, which will feature limited fields, the Player Impact Program and the PGA Tour leadership.
This matter was the subject of a call between the PGA Tour Policy Board and the management according to the memo and “the board is listening to the concerns expressed from individual members and takes the concerns seriously.”
Points allocations won’t change but the memo said the Policy Board will review this in June and “compare how the system is performing related to the projections and evaluate whether any adjustments need to be made prior to the 2025 season.”
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