2023-12-09 03:38:21
The rumor had been circulating for several days, and so it was true! World number 3 Jon Rahm, one of the biggest stars in world golf, announced that he was joining the Saudi LIV circuit, while he was very critical last year of this new PGA Tour competitor. What makes golf fans jump out of their seats even more is perhaps the amount of the contract: between 450 and 600 million dollars (420 and 550 million euros) according to the American media.
“As you have understood, now it is official, I say it after all these rumors… I am joining LIV Golf,” Rahm said on the American channel Fox News after several days of persistent rumors. However, the Spaniard refused to confirm the figures put forward for this agreement: “It is private, and it will remain so! »
“Money remains a factor”
The decision of Rahm, winner of the Masters in April, comes as the golfer was among the most virulent critics of the format of the LIV circuit and the amounts involved to convince players. Tiger Woods would have notably refused nearly 800 million euros to continue his career on this circuit.
“Money is important, but when we discussed it with my wife, we wondered if our life would change with $400 million. Well no. It wouldn’t change anything. I never played golf for the money. I play for the love of the game,” he explained last year.
“It’s still true. Money is great. But I still don’t play golf for that (…) On the other hand, as a husband and father, I have a duty to give them the best possible opportunities. So yes, money remains a factor,” admitted the winner of the 2023 Augusta Masters.
Former world number 1, the 29-year-old Spaniard, double winner of major tournaments, joins Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau who had already given in to the Saudi sirens before him. “I had a very good career on the PGA Tour but the LIV still has a lot to offer, including the concept of playing as a team,” the last Ryder Cup winner with the European team tried to justify. .
This announcement also comes at a time when world golf is in full reconfiguration. Long dissident from the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, the American and European circuits, the LIV had announced shock negotiations for a potential merger between these entities. A deadline of December 31 was set to reach an agreement. An agreement on which Jon Rahm is surely counting, who assured that he wanted to “maintain his status on the PGA Tour”.
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