John Rahm, one of the PGA Tour’s most prolific and recently successful players officially joined LIV Golf on Thursday (Dec. 7). The move has shaken the traditional and historic framework of professional golf, as Rahm is the first superstar player to jump to LIV from the PGA Tour since Cameron Smith joined the league just over a year ago.
When the league was being formed during last year’s PGA season, many feared that the ultra-large signing contracts being offered to star players were skewing the foundation of the sport and getting too much money involved in important decision making. This problem also brought up political questions considering LIV’s capital was backed by Saudi Arabian ultra-rich investors. The scale of the amount of money being offered shocked everybody as well. For example, Tiger Woods has made 121 million dollars over the span of his professional golf career on the PGA Tour, and it is rumored that last year LIV offered him between 700 million and 800 million dollars just to sign with the league. He turned down the offer, but less significant players on the PGA Tour were understandably quick to accept nine figure salaries of guaranteed money.
However, besides a few bright spots for LIV over the course of the last year it has seemed as though the PGA Tour has effectively held their ground and maintained the overwhelming majority of attention from golf fans worldwide. That is why this week has been so impactful on the golf world. Just when everybody thought that the PGA has gained stability again, they lose another front-cover player. With the news of Rahm going to LIV, it was announced that he officially signed for upwards of 600 million dollars. It’s hard to blame him for giving up his prior loyalty to the PGA, considering that the contract totals to roughly the same as Tom Cruise’s net worth. In an interview soon after the announcement, Rahm said that money was only “one of the reasons” that he made the move. With regards to the controversy surrounding the situation, he stated: “I’m very comfortable with my decision, I’m no stranger to hearing some negative things on social media or in media. It’s part of what it is, we’re public figures but you just learn to deal with it right? This certainly won’t define who I am or change who I am.”
Rahm is set to make his first official appearance in a LIV event in February. He cites that the quiet transition period over the next few months is do to some type of restrictions in his contract. “There will be nothing until February, I’m not allowed to,” said Rahm. The underlying question behind all this now becomes: Who will be next?
