Jon Rahm signing for LIV Golf is a dagger to the heart of the PGA Tour. The breakaway tour has secured its thorough bred, leaving men's professional golf in turmoil. While the players get immeasurably richer, where does it leave the fans? And do we even matter?
Have you ever turned down $300m, $400m or even $600m? Or rather, would you? How much money is too much to turn down? ‘Generational wealth’ is a phrase we hear banded about and his family would be set up for decades to come. There’s no judgements cast the way of Jon Rahm. To reflect on the initial question, nobody I know!
There's no point in going deep on Rahm's previous quotes stating his loyalty to the PGA Tour, money talks. Though it is more than a mere footnote to remember Rahm is no pauper. He earned or won – however you wish to term it - $16.5m in 2023 alone.
Is Rahm's move a strategic shift or a step towards semi-retirement for the world number three? The debate has only just gotten started, and as the LIV/PGA war rages on, let's take some time to reflect on the biggest losers in all this, golf fans.
As the players get richer, the fans bear the brunt of this golfing war. Yes, there are more options for our weekend viewing, but at what cost? When the golf product delivered to our screens is mediocre at best, the core experience is compromised further. We want to watch the best play against each other.
Majors aside, events like The Players, Riviera, and countless others lose their allure without the presence of top-tier players like Rahm, DJ, and Bryson.
Where is the value now? Does a victory at The Players mean the same as it once did? The winner will take home a monster cheque, and face less talent in their quest for victory so I doubt they care. It's a money game these days. A cash grab for some of the world's wealthiest sportsmen. And it sucks.
Let's not romanticise about the past. Mens' professional golf has had its issues for years, but as the product tried to evolve in an era of heightened competition for attention, we could still settle down to the final nine on a Sunday hoping to see a duel between the world's best. Whilst interest in the game continues to ride a post-Covid wave, the professional game is determined to eat itself.
None of this is Rahm's fault. He's merely the latest pawn. The LIV putsch should never have gotten this far.
A look back to June
It's hard not to consider June 6th, 2023, as the decisive day, one which blindsided the players.
When Yasir Al-Rumayyan sat next to Jay Monahan on CNBC to announce a breakthrough Framework Agreement between the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the PGA Tour it signalled the end to the dispute between rival Tours. Had the players been betrayed?
The announcement was a bombshell to the golfing world, and many felt Monahan should have sought backing from the players, some of whom had been vocal opponents to LIV Golf.
We’re yet to see how the Framework Agreement will move forward, if at all. Like almost everything in the men’s game from the past two years we have more questions than answers. As the deal is investigated by the US Department of Justice, the PGA Tour continues to flirt with US-based private equity.
In June though, Monahan played his hand. Was this the straw that broke the camel's back for Rahm? The first card fell when McIlroy has resigned from the PGA Board. The PGA Tour’s poster boy and most vocal opponent to LIV Golf cited professional and personal commitments. It’s hard not to consider the toll these previous few years have had on McIlroy, though it signals unrest at Monahan’s management of the Tour. All is not well on the PGA Tour.
Rahm's departure is a watershed moment for the fans in a fragmented golfing world. It will take a while for the dust to settle on this one. But let’s not get misty eyed about a bygone era when golf was for the glory, not the money. It’s seldom been the case.
The consequences of this fracture are felt most by us fans. We don’t remember how much Seve earned when he won the Masters, or what Tiger pocketed for number 15.
For golf fans golf is about the glory.