The second major of the season kicked off Thursday morning. Quite unexpected names dominated the leaderboard after the opening round. Xander Schauffele finished his first round with a historic record, whereas the defending champion Brooks Koepka and the world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler saw themselves finish T12. Another golfer who had a rather disappointing start to the PGA Championship was Jon Rahm.

The five bogeys made by the Spaniard did not go unnoticed by the golf fans. After the Thursday round, Rahm found himself at T47 with a score of 1 under 70 and is nearly 8 strokes away from the leader, Xander Schauffele. Taking to his game play on the Valhalla greens, a golf fan blamed LIV Golf for the recent dip in Rahm’s performance. They took to their Reddit account and posted, “Rahm: LIV golf has ruined the career of a potential all time great. What a shame”, 

Rahm
byu/connorob22332233 inlivgolf

Back in December 2023, Rahm made the monumental decision to defect to LIV Golf for a reportedly hefty sum of $566 million. According to the LIV Golfer, the money factor did play a role in his decision, as he stated, “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.”

Jon Rahm’s debut season at the PIF-funded league has been rather lukewarm, as in every event he played, from LIV Mayakoba in February to LIV Singapore, he has been placed in the Top-10 but has failed to secure any wins. That’s not all; he returned to the Augusta National as the defending champion but his performance at this year’s Masters was truly underwhelming. Jon Rahm had a hard finish of T45 with a disappointing 9-over 297, which was nearly 20 strokes away from the winner, Scottie Scheffler.

The golf community thinks Jon Rahm is playing exhibition golf

LIV Golf’s 54-hole format has garnered constant disapproval from the community and even Jon Rahm himself, who has time and again shared his wish to play in a 72-hole format. One fan cited his lack of practice playing 72-holes as a reason for his downward trend since the rebel league only offers the 54-hole format: “No shit. He sucked at the masters and is in about dead last right now. He’s not going to improve playing exhibition golf.” LIV Golf has always put fan experience and service first and in doing so, it has come up with new ways of entertaining spectators with concerts where renowned artists perform. According to another fan, such actions take away focus from what’s truly important, the game of golf. They did not shy away from taking a jab at the rebel circuit and commented, “Yall root for exhibition golf lol its cute. Who’s DJing this week 😅🤣😂”

Some LIV supporters came forward to defend their league and believed that Scottie Scheffler is currently the World No. 1 only because players like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson are not part of the PGA Tour and their inability to garner OWGR points. Responding to that, one user threw light on Johnson’s performances at the majors ever since he became a LIV golfer. The former world no. 1 missed the cut at the Masters this year, and at Valhalla, DJ finished T108 after the first round with a score of 2 over 73. They wrote, “Correct DJ WAS number 1. He is absolutely nowhere near the player he once was. Why are you worried about what people have done in the past. Look at the current state of their game, give me a fucking break”.

While another Rahm fan defended him and believed him to be the best player. They went on to compare Scottie Scheffler with LIV Golf players like Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson based on their number of major wins. However, he was shut out when one of them said, “Scottie is 27 and has won 10 times in two years including a players and two masters. I don’t think Scottie has said that either but that’s the budding narrative. All the players you mentioned are in decline while Scottie is already the best and getting better. You can’t argue that he’s the best player in the world and it’s not even close”. Comparing Koepka and Mickelson’s 2023 Masters performances to their recent outing at Augusta National, there has been a decline in the majors’ performance as the two secured T2 at the 2023 edition, whereas they finished at T45 and T43 in the 2024 Masters, respectively.

One of them, simply irritated by all the people trying to support the breakaway league with no clear logic, simply commented, “Because the creation of LIV golf has brought all of the dumbest people in America to social media to back it. Y’all need to be put in your place”.

Will Jon Rahm make a comeback in the second round of the PGA Championship and prove his mettle or will the opinions of the netizens turn out to be true? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.