Jon Rahm joins LIV Golf, leaves PGA Tour and sincerity behind

Jon Rahm is headed to LIV Golf.

The transfer alters the skilled {golfing} panorama perpetually, because the Saudi-backed circuit will now make use of the third-ranked participant on the planet, the defending Masters champion, and a generational expertise in Rahm, per The Wall Road Journal.

It’s going to additionally give the Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF)—LIV’s beneficiary—bargaining energy in its ongoing negotiations with the PGA Tour. The 2 sides have till Dec. 31, 2023, to strike a proper settlement to unite golf’s energy brokers and finish the schism that has vociferously divided the game for the previous couple of years.

The PIF, which has over $700 billion in property, will give Rahm near $550 million to hitch the league. He may even personal his personal LIV Golf staff, per The Telegraph.

Since LIV’s launch, Rahm has vehemently supported the PGA Tour and has stated on a number of events that his loyalty lies there.

“I snort when folks rumor me with LIV Golf,” Rahm stated in August on Golf Sin Etiquetas, a Spanish golf podcast.

“I’ve by no means preferred the format. And I at all times have a great time with Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia within the observe rounds of majors… Phil respects my resolution, and I respect his [choice]. Mickelson has informed me that I’ve no motive to go play for LIV, and he has informed me that a number of instances.”

Photograph by Stuart Kerr/R&A by way of Getty Photographs

Think about what he stated on the 2022 U.S. Open on the Nation Membership at Brookline, the place he arrived because the defending champion:

“I’ve by no means actually performed the sport of golf for financial causes,” Rahm stated in Massachusetts.

“I’ve at all times been excited by historical past and legacy, and proper now the PGA Tour has that. There’s a which means while you win the Memorial Championship. There’s a which means while you win Arnold Palmer’s occasion at Bay Hill. There’s a which means while you win [Los Angeles], Torrey [Pines], a few of these historic venues. That to me issues so much.”

However one thing has modified over the previous few months, as quite a few indicators have pointed on this path.

He first pulled out of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL league, after which, most not too long ago, was not listed inside the subject of subsequent month’s The American Specific, a event he received on the PGA Tour in January 2023. The PGA Tour insists on defending champions enjoying within the occasion the next 12 months until an damage—or a defection to LIV—happens.

Rahm additionally has a robust relationship with Mickelson and Garcia, which he alluded to in August. These two gamers have been with LIV Golf from the onset. Maybe their mentorship of Rahm influenced his resolution much more.

Regardless, Rahm will now tee it up with LIV Golf, an occasion that should make PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan really feel queasy, because the tour has misplaced certainly one of its best property and certainly one of its finest gamers.

Finally, this transfer is likely one of the most monumental moments inside the sport, maybe shifting the bargaining energy in direction of the PIF and away from the PGA Tour. How the settlement shapes out from right here stays to be seen, however it is going to be an attention-grabbing few weeks, to say the least.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. You’ll want to try @_PlayingThrough too.