Getty Image / Sean M. Haffey
Jon Rahm is looking to cap off one of the best seasons of professional golf (of any golfer) in recent memory with a strong showing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Jon Rahm has a decent lead in the FedEx Cup points over #2 Scottie Scheffler but those two have completely distanced themselves from the field with Rory McIlroy over 1,000 points behind Rahm.
With some enormous money ahead ($20M in the St. Jude, $20M in the BMW, $18M for 1st in the Tour Championship), Rahm took a few minutes away from the course to clear his head and joined a Spanish-language podcast, Golf Sin Etiquetas, to talk PGA Tour-LIV Golf.
The podcast can be streamed in full on YouTube but Rahm’s quotes about LIV and thinking ‘it was a joke’ when he found out about the merger are below:
Speaking about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger/deal, Jon Rahm told Golf Sin Etiquetas:
“2 minutes before the announcement came out someone from the PGA Tour contacted me and told me everything. I thought it was a joke. And this is what they should have done from the beginning. Instead they generated division then decided to come together again.” “I hope they reach an agreement. I think LIV will continue, from what I understand when I talked to their players, none of them intend to return to the PGA Tour. They left for a reason.”
These transcribed quotes came from Flushing It on Twitter:
Jon Rahm has done a podcast with ‘Golf Sin Etiquetas’ and had this to say on the PGA Tour/LIV deal:
“2 minutes before the announcement came out someone from the PGA Tour contacted me and told me everything. I thought it was a joke. And this is what they should have done from…
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) July 31, 2023
Interestingly, Jon Rahm’s comments on LIV Invitational players not intending to return to the PGA Tour mirror what Phil Mickelson said over the weekend on Twitter.
In response to rumors about LIV Golf Tour members facing varying degrees of harsh penalties and having to regain their PGA Tour cards via Q School like a bunch of plebeians, Phil Mickelson said on Twitter:
“What a colossal waste of time.Not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour. It would require a public apology and restitution to LIV playersfor paying millions to Clout media to disparage all of us.A better topic is future sanctions for the many players who now come to LIV.”
It sure seems as if the players in the know, like Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, firmly believe LIV Golf Tour members have no interest in the PGA Tour at this point, at least not the majority of them.