Jon Rahm‘s move to LIV Golf may never have happened if he hadn’t won the Masters.
The Spaniard admitted his position as reigning champion of Augusta National made it easier to join the Saudi-funded league for a reported £450 million figure in a revealing interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith.
Having won two majors, Rahm’s future in golf’s four big championships is in safe hands, but this is more than can be said for many of his LIV Golf colleagues.
The breakaway league houses a host of past major winners who hold exemptions, but its lack of world ranking points has done much to restrict routes to majors for several others with no past triumphs to speak of.
“Well I didn’t want to look at it that way, like I said, I’m very hopeful that there’ll be a path back to all of those things,” Rahm said when he was asked if he’d reached the pinnacle by winning the Masters.
“But I can confidently say that if I hadn’t won the Masters, I don’t know if I would’ve done it (moved to LIV Golf).
“It definitely set me up in a position where it’s easier to make that change and if I hadn’t won a major, I don’t know if I would have ever done it.”
The 29-year-old made his major breakthrough in 2021 by winning the US Open before producing an equally impressive display at Augusta National two years later. He can return to Magnolia Lane for the rest of his life and his US Open victory granted him 10 more years playing at America’s national championship.
LIV Golf’s application to be granted Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points was rejected back in October, with the main obstacles being the league’s “closed-style fashion” and the team element’s effect on performances in the individual format.
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This has caused players such as Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Joaquin Niemann to speak out against the OWGR board and, in some instances, call for the majors to create a category to allow more LIV players to compete.
The “path back to all of those things” that Rahm refers to, a world where LIV players are given world ranking points and therefore greater access to the majors, could come via an agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s chief investors – the Public Investment Fund.
Jon Rahm: LIV Golf gives me more money and more time
In this interview, Rahm said the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with the PIF, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that bankrolls LIV Golf, “opened his mind” when it was announced in June last year.
An end to the division and hostility between the PGA Tour and LIV seemed on the horizon after this groundbreaking news, although an official agreement hasn’t been decided yet.
But if we park the factor of a professional golf peace deal, Rahm’s move to LIV Golf was still a surprise when you consider his previous comments about the league and his verbal commitment to the PGA Tour.
In February 2022, he pledged his “fealty” to the tour and at the US Open of the same year, he said LIV Golf’s format wasn’t appealing and that he has never played golf for “monetary reasons.”
Rahm has now admitted the riches of the lucrative LIV Golf league, which offers $25 million in prize money at each event, were influential in his move which was announced in December, before the start of LIV’s 2024 season.
“It’s a change. The best way I can explain it is LIV Golf wasn’t a thing or a possibility for us growing up, the PGA Tour was the pinnacle of golf,” he added.
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“This is a new change, a big change and I don’t want to skip through this point because there’s no point – a big change in the way the golfers get compensated. I’d be lying if I said it (the money) wasn’t a big part of it.
“In a nutshell, I’m getting more to play the same sport and have more time. I don’t know about most people, but that sounds great to me.
“From when I said that (pledging his fealty to the PGA Tour in February 2022), certain circumstances changed.
“When the PGA Tour and the PIF got into this framework agreement and agreed to work together in the future, I think it opened my mind to maybe – I’ve been a little bit closed-minded towards this and maybe I should give myself a chance, as an athlete and entertainer, I think I owe it to myself to hear the other side out and that’s what I did.”
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(Image credit: LIV Golf)
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