Getty Image / Andrew Redington
With the deadline for the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger looming later this month, Jon Rahm is expected to announce his PGA Tour departure and LIV Golf membership this week.
Rumors have been swirling for weeks. Those rumors went from ‘oh, not this again’ to ‘okay, at this point I’ll be shocked if Jon Rahm DOESN’T join LIV Golf’ as his silence on the topic became deafening. Now, the Wall Street Journal is the first major outlet to put a specific time for his announcement to these rumors.
Jon Rahm is currently the #3 ranked golfer in the world according to the latest OWGR standings. He is the reigning Masters champion and he’s made about $38 million on the PGA Tour over the past three seasons but his rumored LIV Golf contract is expected to be the largest offered to any former PGA Tour player.
Jon Rahm’s LIV Golf Contract Could Set Records
Rumors have put the size of Jon Rahm’s future LIV Golf contract somewhere between $450 and $600 million. Which is proof that everyone has a price because Rahm has said in the past that it was never about money but if the offer keeps going up and up and up and up, at some point it becomes about money.
For context, Tiger Woods leads the PGA Tour’s All-Time Money List with $120,954,766 in career earnings. Jon Rahm would likely surpass those earnings in just one season with LIV. Rahm himself sits 11th on the All-Time Money List with $51.5 million in career PGA Tour earnings.
According to the WSJ report, poaching Jon Rahm might be seen as a ‘shot across the bow’ from LIV to pressure the PGA Tour to act on the merger which has a deadline of December 31st to close. The report states:
People within the industry were also bracing for the impact of Rahm’s defection on the fragile truce between the Saudis and the Tour. Signing Rahm could be seen as a Saudi shot across the bow, intended to pressure the Tour to conclude a deal, or as an insurance policy for the Saudis that would allow them to continue to run a rival LIV circuit in the event that a deal doesn’t happen.
In the past, Rahm said the LIV Golf format was what turned him off. In June 2022, he said “To be honest, part of the format is not really appealing to me.” Rahm went on to say “A shotgun start, three days, is not a golf tournament, with no cut, it’s that simple. I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years.”
Does this move the needle?
There is a lot of discussion about what this means for the PGA Tour, losing another one of the biggest stars in golf to the Saudi-backed LIV. And I can only speak for myself here but honestly, it wouldn’t move the needle for me in either direction with LIV. If it’s on, I’ll watch. But the TV product isn’t as good as the PGA Tour, IMHO.
There’s nothing fun (for me) about watching a golfer on TV hit shots with music blaring in the background while a commentator tries to ignore that happening. And unlike the object of the sport of golf where the aim is to play the least amount of golf possible, when it comes to watching professional golf I tend to think that more golf = better golf. Instead of 54 holes give me 90 hole events, or a 7-day tournament.
The Jon Rahm announcement could come as soon as today. We here at BroBible have heard from insiders who expect the announcement to come before the weekend.