The golfing world was stunned when Jon Rahm left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf back in 2023.
At the time, Jordan Spieth was playing a leading role on the PGA Tour policy board, and Jon Rahm‘s exit to LIV Golf caused a real stir behind the scenes of the professional game.
Rahm was recently described as one of the most impressive modern-day golfers by the legendary Tom Watson.
The Spaniard is unquestionably one of the biggest superstars in the game.
So it goes without saying that Rahm’s exit to LIV Golf two years ago would have sent shockwaves through PGA Tour headquarters.
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Rahm’s incredible performances at the Ryder Cup back in September cemented his standing as one of the best golfers on the planet.
However, there are some golf fans and journalists alike who still believe that he made a huge error by switching sides to LIV.
After all, he failed to win a single event in 2025 and his best finish at a major championship since he left the PGA Tour has been a tie for seventh.
The reason why Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf according to Jordan Spieth
Back in 2023, In June 2023, a framework deal was announced between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, with the two Tours and the DP World Tour set to unite to form one single commercial entity.
However, it wasn’t long after when the deal slowly began to crumble due to disagreements on both sides.
Spieth himself made it clear that the PGA Tour didn’t need money from PIF – the Saudi-backers of LIV Golf – back in February 2024.
However, just a few months before that, the PGA Tour’s position seemed to have been significantly weakened when Rahm joined LIV.
In December 2023, Spieth shared with Doug Ferguson at the Associated Press why he believes Rahm decided to jump ship from the PGA Tour.
“I don’t think for him it was the money,” Spieth said.
“I believe he saw two places that neither one was in a great situation right now, and he said, ‘May as well have the money.’
“It’s a really nice play by them (LIV getting Rahm). I think we hold the best hand, but they know what our hand is. It’s a nice leveraging tool with everything going on.”
Spieth was clearly referring to the fact that everything was so up in the air at the time.
Nobody really knew where the professional game was heading, and the three-time major champion clearly believed that the Spaniard was very much hedging bets by joining LIV Golf.
Fast forward two years, though, and it seems like the PGA Tour has very much got the upper hand once again.
LIV has been unable to prise any more superstars away from the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed outfit is still struggling to draw the interest in their league that they would have initially hoped.
Will the PGA Tour and LIV Golf ever merge?
Put simply, golf fans deserve to see the very best golfers in the world compete against each other outside of the four major championships.
However, the fact of the matter is that the PGA Tour is in such a strong position right now that they don’t actually need LIV Golf at all.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp offered his take on whether a merger will happen anytime soon, when speaking during a CNBC CEO Forum last week.
“I don’t know, I don’t know the answer to that. I’ve been very public; first of all, I didn’t live through any of the previous conversations, and I will admit that the disruption in the sport is probably the reason I’m sitting here now. I’ve been very public, I will do whatever makes the PGA Tour stronger,” he said.
“And the interesting thing about the PGA Tour, which makes it unique in all of sports, is that it is player-owned. The players own the equity in the tour. Every other sport is either contracted relationships, normally through a collective bargaining agreement where it’s management and labour, I work for the players. And we have a system where they own the equity and can actually earn more, which is an extremely powerful model in sports.
“And I feel a deep responsibility to create something for them in this golf ecosystem. And they should be benefitting from professional sports more than anybody because they are the sport. So I have a responsibility to them, I have a responsibility to the PGA Tour, and I will do whatever benefits the tour.”
Reading between the lines there, Rolapp is obviously very confident that the PGA Tour holds all of the cards right now.
Jon Rahm made his decision at the time to financially protect himself, according to Jordan Spieth.
However, there is definitely an argument to be made that he may well be regretting that right now.
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