‘Feelings Do Change’: Jon Rahm Makes $566M Worth ‘Family’ Confession That Pushed Him Away From PGA Tour

Feb 7, 2024 | 1:18 AM EST

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So, money did play a part in Jon Rahm’s big-money switch to LIV Golf. The reigning Masters champion took a vow not to speak publicly until the LIV Golf season starts. But he did sit for a one-on-one chat with Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier, which was published yesterday. In the free-flowing conversation, the rationale behind the $566M LIV Golf switch was brought up.

Dethier put delicately what every golf fan has wanted to scream with a megaphone. Why? Why did the 2023 Masters Champion ‘taint’ his legacy? The word ‘greed’ has accompanied his name lately. But the Spanish international reveals money was a factor, but it’s more nuanced than that.

Jon Rahm admits money was a reason, but not the only one

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Rahm’s chuckle gives away that he understood what Dethier was getting at. After all, everyone had the same question. Why turn his back when he pledged his ‘fealty’ to the Tour just a year ago? There has to be something more than just the money, right?

“Dynamic started to change,” Jon Rahm stated thoughtfully after lingering with the question for some time. “There was a lot of division at that time. And yes, for me to want to change, there had to be reasons beyond the money.” Rahm had previously said that $400M wouldn’t change his life.

This time too, Rahm stood by his words. “So when I said that, I fully meant and it’s true.” But there is a different reality as well. A reality where securing your family and kids’ future took the front seat. “Now, when they slap you with a large amount of money in your face, your feelings do change. I try not to be a materialistic person, but I do owe it to my family as well to set them up for success as best I can.”

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Jon Rahm and his wife, Kelley, welcomed their second child, Eneko Cahill Rahm in August 2022. The Spaniard admits becoming a father of two kids changed his worldview. “Having kids, I think, changes that quite a bit.” But money, the Legion XIII captain, reiterates, “is a part of it. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, and say no, it isn’t. But again, when I said that I wasn’t fully aware that, that was what I was saying because you don’t really understand.”

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Notably, Jon Rahm also said that the short schedule of the upstart league would also allow him to spend more time with his family and kids. But securing his family’s future came up for the first time. Notably, Brooks Koepka, too, confessed that the amount of money LIV Golf offered, would secure the future of his family. In fact, that was the deciding factor for the five-time Major winner.

Watch This Story| ‘Rarely Got to Spend’: Jon Rahm Evokes His Emotional Side While Justifying His LIV Golf Move