PGA Tour Loyalist Jon Rahm Provides Honest Appreciation to LIV Golf for Its Evolution in the Sport

Not once, but many times, Jon Rahm has indicated that he was content with the PGA tour and will not jump to LIV golf. However, he is grateful for the Saudi-backed circuit to have happened. Currently, Rahm is focused on playing in the first season of the TGL, a new tech-infused golf league that will partner with the PGA Tour and debut in 2024.

Two weeks ago, the DP World Tour Championship winner attended the interview. He talked about various improvements to the PGA Tour, which already saw a tremendous change. It began with a $100 million increase in the Player Impact Program pool. Even though Rahm had no intention of joining LIV, why did he feel grateful for its existence? Let’s find out.

Why was Jon Rahm happy with LIV?

Every player who has not left the PGA tour, including Jon Rahm, is happy. They do not want to switch to LIV; however, the reason for their happiness is somewhat Greg Norman’s golf circuit. Rahm conceded on Wednesday that the existence of LIV Golf improved things for him and all the PGA Tour-remaining comrades who did not leave the tour.

During an interview at Albany, the site of this week’s Hero World Challenge, he said, “I think on this side of things, we should be thankful that LIV happened.” 

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The golfer added, “I don’t know if those changes would have happened if LIV wasn’t in the picture. So to an extent, yeah, we should be thankful.” According to the former number-one golfer, the improvements on the PGA tour with increased purses and perks, and benefits are all due to LIV because it was LIV that made all the good things happen for the PGA players.

The Saudi-backed circuit became a threat to the PGA when all golfers like Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith joined LIV. Authorities took the loss of skilled players seriously and came up with increased benefits for tour golfers. They wanted to make golfers stay with PGA.

If it weren’t for LIV, PGA would have never enhanced any benefit, nor the purse amount for PIP would have improved because they would have never understood the need. They speculated that golfers are joining LIV because it provides better financial benefits than PGA. 

What improvements did the PGA tour make?

The tour commissioner Jay Monahan made the announcements in August this year. All top players pledged to compete in at least 20 PGA TOUR events annually. He also introduced additional Elevated Events for 2023 and an extension of the Player Impact Program, which we all saw. 

He also announced a guaranteed league-minimum pay for full TOUR members. Four more Elevated Events will be included, making 12 events for the next season. In addition to the Players Championship and major championship, top golfers committed to competing in all 12 events.

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What are your thoughts about the existence of LIV? Do you agree with Rahm?