Brooks Koepka Rejects PGA Tour Nostalgia While Jon Rahm Badly Misses ‘Competing Against’ Past Rivals

The four majors, undoubtedly, hold a lot of prestige in the sport of golf. What’s more, after the inception of LIV Golf in 2021, it has also become a contest where one can spot top golfers back in the same field again. Well, naturally, such a situation for many athletes from the breakaway league induces a kind of sentimentality about the time when they were part of the PGA Tour. And that is exactly how Jon Rahm feels. However, for Brooks Koepka, not so much!

The two were spotted attending their respective press conferences ahead of the upcoming Masters Tournament at Augusta National. Meanwhile, as they did so, Rahm couldn’t help but express how he missed playing on the Jay Monahan-led circuit, unlike Koepka, who responded with a more “subjective” answer.

The Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka conundrum

“The best players in the world never got together week in, week out,” said Koepka before mentioning how the fact was “kind of forgotten.” Adding on, he pointed out how the top golfers only came together for certain events and wouldn’t compete every week; “If you look at the Tour schedule, it was the majors, WGCs… or at Memorial, but those were pretty much the 10 events where everyone was, for sure, going to be there.”

However, Rahm wasn’t of the same opinion as Brooks Koepka. “I still love the PGA Tour,” said the Spaniard as he expressed his hope of competing at the circuit again. Regardless of his not giving it much thought after joining LIV, when posed with the query ahead of the major, the 29-year-old couldn’t help but convey his love for the league and for competing against other PGA Tour Pros at venues such as Palm Springs, Torrey, Phoenix, and L.A.: “There are some venues that I miss not being at, not only because I won but just because I love it… And that’s the reason why I played well in those tournaments.”

Still, even though Rahm confessed how he missed competing against certain athletes, he also divulged how there was a lot for him, which caught his attention as a LIV golfer and a captain. What’s more, he also emphasized how the competition was still there in the Saudi-backed league all the while having fun playing the same: “Yeah, they’re smaller fields, but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world, and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA Tour to win those events. So that doesn’t change.” Anyhow, it truly seems the 2023 Masters champ and Brooks Koepka do not share the same view when it comes to the Monahan-led circuit.

Interestingly, for Rahm to play on the PGA Tour once more, the ongoing talks regarding the merger have to reach a favorable end. And what does the 29-year-old have to say about the impending framework agreement?

Rahm shares his thoughts on the upcoming merger

Commenting on the recent meet-up that the PGA Tour’s Player Directors had with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Spanish golfer revealed how there were “some discussions that haven’t been there in the past.” Taking it as a positive sign, the professional hinted at how finalizing the agreement might “be closer than ever.”

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However, that’s not all he said regarding the unification. Interestingly, the professional also mentioned how LIV Golf needs to change its format and switch to 72-holes all the while following the model of F1; “I’ve told both tours. In fact, a lot of things LIV has done have been based on Formula 1…we are going to have to be playing worldwide. And you want to have the best players world.” 

Meanwhile, many in the community would undoubtedly be hoping for a united front. They might even Jon Rahm would be right on point when he said, “The closer we can get LIV Golf to some other things the better it might be for unification and feeding a world tour like that.” Well, fingers are crossed!

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