Jon Rahm criticised after what he did in his opening press conference at The Masters

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Jon Rahm is back at Augusta National Golf Course and back at The Masters, a tournament he won in 2023.

Rahm won The Masters by four strokes that year, seeing off runners-up Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.

That arrived two years after his first major championship win, with Spaniard Rahm winning the 2021 US Open by one shot.

Ryan Lavner thinks Rahm is a Masters contender this year, with the latter heading into the major sitting third in the LIV Golf individual standings.

An 11-time PGA Tour winner, the two-time major champion made the hugely controversial switch to LIV Golf in December 2023.

Dan Rapaport says PGA Tour and LIV Golf deal remains far away

And his latest return to Augusta has now sparked criticism, with Rahm saying he is simply focusing on this week when asked for an update on PGA Tour and LIV Golf talks in his opening press conference.

Speaking on Dan on Golf, journalist Dan Rapaport said of Rahm: “He has been open about thinking that he is going to be the catalyst to a deal.

READ MORE: LIV Golf players all told they will have a disadvantage at Augusta National this year when The Masters starts

“I remember in December 2023 when he went, it felt like the PGA Tour was in a rough spot. One more person and they had to get this deal done.

“That was already six months after the framework agreement. We are coming up on two years since the framework agreement and all the murmurs are that it is not close, which is amazing to think about.

“If you look back at when there were competing leagues with the ABA and the NBA it takes a long time and this one is even more fraught than ever before because of all the PR aspects to it.

“Because of all the politics and because of just the crazy, you’re dealing with on one side you have an old institution that has a solid business model. On the new side you have an upstart that has basically an unlimited bankroll.

“They had pretty good ratings for them in Miami but it was still less than a third of Brian Harman’s snoozer. It was brutal.

“It never got close and they weren’t playing well. Harman shot three over and this was LIV’s biggest event, so clearly they are losing a lot of money but clearly they want this thing to keep continuing and it sort of feels like amazingly we are just as far, if not further away from a deal than we were 20 months ago.”

Jon Rahm criticised for deflecting PGA Tour and LIV Golf talks question

The Masters comes immediately after the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continued continued on their separate journeys.

Harman emerged victorious at the Valero Texas Open, while Marc Leishman was the winner at LIV Golf Miami.

READ MORE: Peter Finch reveals the player he is picking to win The Masters this year and he’s backing him to beat Scottie Scheffler

The tournaments came amid a continuing uncertainty about the futures of both tours, which have seemingly yet to agree on a merger.

And continuing the discussion on Rahm in that regard, Golf Digest’s Alex Myers said: “I give Rahm credit because he has talked about it in the past, and he was kind of open.

“Even putting his ego out there, he was thinking he was going to be some catalyst. But I hate that deflection.

“I remember, I think it was Brooks who did it a couple of years ago. When we get to The Masters and [they say] it’s about this week.

“It’s like, this is our chance to ask you! He is still deflecting and not wanting to talk about it. It’s like, just give us an answer.”