With Jon Rahm playing on the DP World Tour this week, he will not have been surprised to have been asked about the current stalemate in the game involving LIV Golf.
The framework agreement was signed more than 18 months ago, and yet, golf fans are still awaiting the likes of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to come back together. And with that, Jon Rahm is making an appearance on the DP World Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Rahm is looking to boost his hopes of making the Ryder Cup team for Bethpage. Of course, the Spaniard will not gain any points towards qualification through his performances on LIV this year. Meanwhile, there will be some notable names on LIV who do not automatically qualify for some of the majors.
LIV Golf abandoned its attempt to try and secure world ranking points. Nevertheless, Rahm insisted this week that not rewarding players for their performances on LIV was ‘wrong’.
Jon Rahm’s comments on LIV Golf not receiving world ranking points criticised
While Rahm acknowledged that the players knew the risks they were taking when they made the jump, he suggested that someone like Joaquin Niemann should not have to rely on a special invite to play at the Masters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the comments have been met with little sympathy. Speaking on CBS’s The First Cut Podcast, Greg DuCharme admitted that he is baffled by the outrage from those associated with LIV.
“We’re playing a game here. We have rules here. You decided – very important word – you decided to leave that game and go start your own game, and then complain that you’re not invited, you’re not included in the game that you left. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. And you’ve made no effort to acquiesce to the rules that exist that aren’t changing,” he said.
“You’ve begged and wined and slammed your fists to try and get them to change their rules that they’ve had in place since the beginning of the OWGR. It really bothers me in that sense, just that general attitude. And then you hear, I believe this is right, half the players that got relegated from LIV last year are back on teams this year. And no-one from the International Series got an automatic exemption, I heard that as well.
“So it’s like they’ve gone further away from what it takes to acquire OWGR points. And I don’t understand that, I don’t understand the direction.”
How LIV Golf now appears to have lost even more credibility
Obviously, it is slightly farcical that some LIV Golf players could miss out on the majors despite some outstanding form. Sergio Garcia has not played in the PGA Championship or The Open Championship in either of the last two years.
However, it is bizarre for anyone associated with LIV to complain about the situation. Clearly, the big problem is the fact that they play 54-hole events.
Meanwhile, as DuCharme alluded to, LIV has also harmed itself by not relegating two of the players who were in the drop zone last season. Certainly, the decision to keep Branden Grace seems laughable, regardless of the fact that he is a much better player than he showed last year.
When relegation is one of the biggest selling points, it seems enormously damaging to make exceptions.
It further highlights why so many are still struggling to take a tour with a handful of the world’s best players seriously.
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