How the PGA Tour should feel if Tony Finau does leave and join LIV Golf

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With the golfing calendar fairly quiet for the rest of 2024, the rumour mill concerning who LIV Golf may sign for 2025 has already started up.

LIV Golf certainly made what appeared to be a huge statement ahead of 2024. After weeks of speculation, Jon Rahm confirmed that he would indeed be joining the league, with the Spaniard going on to have a phenomenal debut year as he clinched the individual title.

There has been a claim that Tony Finau has agreed to join LIV Golf ahead of 2025. And the 35-year-old has arguably added fuel to that fire, with Finau no longer in the field for the Hero World Challenge this week.

It remains to be seen whether Finau does end up leaving the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, there will also be eyes on which other players end up in PIF’s sights.

How the PGA Tour may react if Tony Finau does sign for LIV Golf

Losing Finau would definitely be a blow for the PGA Tour. He is most definitely in that category of the best current players yet to win a major. Tiger Woods even insisted in 2019 that Finau had the game to win a major. And he is currently 26th in the world rankings.

However, if he does prove to be the headline signing for LIV Golf this winter, then perhaps the PGA Tour will be breathing a sigh of relief.

Of course, it currently seems inevitable that the game will come back together at some stage, so players jumping ship does not seem as seismic as it once did. But the PGA Tour will also take some encouragement from the fact that Rahm’s defection did not move the needle in the way LIV would have probably hoped.

It was Bryson DeChambeau who seemed to break through with the wider golfing audience, rather than Rahm. And Rahm’s performances in the majors hinted that perhaps joining LIV was not necessarily the best move for him.

Losing Jon Rahm shows the PGA Tour can cope with a reasonably big name jumping ship

Finau would definitely be a good signing for LIV. But given that there has been speculation about his future previously, some will feel that his departure has been on the cards for a little while if he does join, and thus, the reaction will be a little more muted.

Unless LIV are going to pull an absolute rabbit out of the hat and convince a superstar to join, Finau seems to be about as impressive a signing as they could make.

But from the outside, it does not appear to be the kind of move which will leave the PGA Tour even more desperate to get around the negotiating table and get a deal done.