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On Thursday, weeks of rumors culminated with Jon Rahm confirming he was leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf, and Max Homa’s joke about the manner in which he’d officially announced that development turned out to be pretty prophetic.
While Jon Rahm remained loyal to the PGA Tour after a number of notable names made the leap to its upstart rival, he wasn’t exactly a vocal critic and never ruled out the possibility he’d make the leap at some point in the future.
Earlier this year, a report surfaced that claimed LIV Golf had attempted to poach him only to balk when he responded with a number that was apparently too steep for an organization with pockets that are seemingly deeper than the Mariana Trench, but over the past month or so, there was increased speculation the two sides had come to an agreement.
On Thursday, Rahm officially announced his decision to take his talents to LIV and gave a couple of interviews where he asserted he was swayed by the innovative nature of the league was the primary factor as opposed to the more than $300 million ESPN reports he’ll be receiving as a result.
Rahm conducted his interview with David Feherty (as well as another with Brett Baier of Fox News) while rocking a LIV Golf letterman jacket—which just so happened to be the piece of attire Max Homa joked about him wearing while making the announcement shortly before the golfer went public.
Imagine if Rahm announces this in a LIV golf letterman jacket
— max homa (@Maxhoma) December 7, 2023
Only time will tell if this is the move that gets golf fans to care about LIV, as the billions of dollars that have been spent on the venture have really only managed to generate media coverage concerning the drama it’s inspired as opposed to drawing eyeballs to events that have largely failed to move the needle on the viewership front.
Rahm will also get to experience the best of both worlds, as he’ll still be able to participate in majors for at least five years (in addition to The Masters for the rest of his life) while taking advantage of a reduced workload and the massive guaranteed paycheck he’s set himself up for.