LIV Captain Jon Rahm’s PGA Tour Love Stirs Polarized Reaction at the PGA Championship: ‘Can’t Have It Both Ways’

There is no ‘other side’, Jon Rahm claimed on Tuesday. It’s a mental projection, a non-existent reality created by the current state of professional golf. “See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not. I still want to support the PGA Tour. And I think that’s an important distinction to make,” the Spaniard said during the Tuesday press conference at Valhalla.

Rahm has expressed similar sentiments earlier. In February, the 11-time PGA Tour winner admitted it was hard to sit out at The American Express, the Farmers Insurance Open, or, near home, the WM Phoenix Open. At the Masters, the 29-year-old reiterated, “I mean, there’s no secret, I’ve mentioned a few times, there’s some venues that I miss not being at, not only because I won but just because I love it.” Rahm has also refrained from what Rory McIlroy termed burning the place (the PGA Tour) down.

But not everyone was willing to cut Rahm some slack. A few, like the Golf Channel analyst, Arron Oberholser, were enraged. “I’m incensed by that, quite honestly… You still don’t get it. You took 500 large, and then you’re gonna sit there and tell me, oh, you still feel like a PGA Tour member? I want to support the PGA Tour.”

Adding further, the former pro raged, “I mean, I want to wring his neck through the television. I’m that mad right now. I’m that mad. Every player in that locker room on the PGA Tour should be absolutely incensed with him.” Taking a cue from there, Flushing It Golf asked who was causing the splinter, if not the commentators and analysts with their hot takes. 

“Jon Rahm is just playing on a different tour, that’s it, and Aaron Oberholser says he wants to “ring his neck”. Jon has said nothing but supportive things about the tour and has been anything but divisive and gets reactions like that from professional analysts,” the ex-pro who runs the account opined in a lengthy tweet. 

What do netizens and golf fans in general think? The PGA Tour and PIF, the Saudi sovereign fund bankrolling LIV, are in talks for a merger of business interests. But the fans are more divided than ever before. 

Jon Rahm is at the epicenter of controversy 

Jon Rahm has earlier explained that he thought his decision would speed up the negotiations. It had some effect, as was evident from Rory McIlroy’s comments. But the Spaniard wasn’t the catalyst he hoped he could be. One fan remarked, “Don’t think he regrets the money… but think he regrets how much he factored his away in his decision. If he had a choice he would play his golf of the PGA.” Some fans feel it was well within Rahm’s right to play wherever he wants to. But he can’t evade the consequences that come with it. One of them explained, “He can’t just throw his hands up in the air and act like his leaving didn’t dilute the PGAT. Can’t have it both ways.”

Another section thinks Jon Rahm isn’t a PGA Tour player only because Jay Monahan banned him. Without that, golfers could’ve teed off on both the tours because, after all, they are not contracted employees of the PGA Tour. Notably, LIV Golf offers a contract to players. The details of Rahm’s contract are not public, but the contract sum is reported to be somewhere around $500 million. “Rahm and all professional golfers should be able to play wherever they want, they are independent contractors,” one of them wrote. Another fan topped that, “Golf pros are not employees. They have played multiple tours for decades, now the PGAT wants to own them.” Among the list of netizens who supported the argument was Greg Norman Jr. 

 Notably, Brandel Chamblee, another Golf Channel analyst, too earlier criticized Rahm for his decision to join LIV Golf, saying it was ‘it was heavily fertilized in greed‘. Some, however, thought it had been blown out of proportion by both sides. While they agree that Rahm’s comments were naive, they would prefer commentators to have some restraint. One of them called the reaction from the Golf Channel analyst, “beyond unprofessional.”

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and PIF are continuing with the merger talks. Tiger Woods, who is the lone player director on the Transaction Committee said that progress is being made, albeit slowly. The contour of the future is not entirely clear. The constant bickering shows that wounds run pretty deep among fans.