Ever since Jon Rahm stunned the golfing world by deciding to join LIV Golf late last year, there has been plenty of discussion regarding whether the Spaniard would go on to regret his move with the breakaway tour still trying to establish itself as a heavyweight.
When Jon Rahm left the PGA Tour, the 2023 Masters champion was arguably the best player on the planet, having led Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph in Rome. So there was no question that it was a massive coup for LIV Golf, who had already poached a number of major champions in their first two years in existence.
Interestingly, Rahm’s defection does not appear to have been the needle-mover that some, including Rahm himself perhaps, expected it to be, with talks between the PGA Tour and PIF still seemingly at stalemate.
Rahm has impressed on LIV, winning in England and leading the individual standings, having finished in the top 10 at every event this season. However, he was hardly able to take that form into the major championships, and some think Rahm has struggled due to the 54-hole format on LIV.
How Jon Rahm feels about LIV Golf move
It was recently claimed that Rahm would jump at the chance to return to the PGA Tour – though Greg Norman hit out at those reports.
It would be no surprise if the PGA Tour did welcome back one or two players from LIV in the next few years, given that LIV is so different to anything else in the current game. But speaking on The Rough Cut Golf Podcast, Peter Finch does not believe that Rahm is one of those with any intention of making the jump back anytime soon.
“No, I think he very much understood what he was doing, and I’ve got this sneaking suspicion that the £500 million that he got for going over this five year period is going to be pretty much a nice little pillow to cry on, if he really is gutted about leaving the PGA Tour. But I don’t think he is. I’ve got to be honest, since he’s gone, I would say that the PGA Tour has become a little bit less of a spectacle. There’s been this slow bleed of players who’ve left. Now, it started with players like Phil Mickelson, for example, legend of the game, but let’s face it, end of his career, he was a big name who rather than going to the seniors’ tour, filtered onto LIV – good catch for them, PGA Tour probably not overly fussed about him going,” he said.
“But then it’s been good players, it’s been major champions, it’s been young players and Jon Rahm was, at that time, pretty much at the pinnacle of the game. And when you look at a LIV leaderboard now, it’s strong; it’s really, really good. I still think it’s top heavy, the top 20 players are very good but after that, are people going to get massively excited about it? I’m not entirely sure. But it does feel like the PGA has lost a little bit of its impetus. Now obviously, it’s got investment in itself and it’s trying to build back up into a different product, but I really don’t think that Rahm’s actually bothered.”
Where LIV is potentially struggling to attract attention
One of the issues facing LIV is that it does not have the depth it would probably like to have. Certainly, the casual fan is unlikely to know who completes Rahm’s Legion XIII team along with Tyrrell Hatton.
One of the areas where LIV tries to attract attention is with the open zone and the drop zone. Players who finish between 25th and 48th in the season standings can be traded or released by their teams, while players below 48th are relegated – if they are not a captain of their team.
However, there are not a raft of big names at the peak of their powers trying to break into that top 24 right now. So unless they can find a way to bring more star names in, they are perhaps going to struggle to make more fans care about some of the more unique aspects of their product.
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