Rumours about the possibility of Jon Rahm being in negotiations to sign for LIV Golf are growing and precisely this Friday they were not quelled by Jordan Spieth after the second round of the Hero World Challenge. The Spaniard, for now, remains silent.
The American, who recently rejoined the PGA Tour Policy Board as a substitute for Rory McIlroy, was asked after his round in the Bahamas how he thought Rahm’s departure would affect negotiations with the Saudi Arabian Investment Fund (PIF), which finances LIV. “I’m not specifically sure how it would affect those negotiations, but Jon Rahm is one of the biggest assets we have on the PGA Tour,” Spieth affirmed. “It wouldn’t be very good for us overall because we want to play against the best players in the world, and that’s what Jon is,” he declared before adding that “I know there have been some peers who have spoken to him. I know he may be weighing some decisions, maybe not. In a way, that’s out of my control. Obviously, I could probably speak on behalf of more than 200 PGA Tour players and say that we really hope he continues with us.”
How would the Texan convince Jon to stay on the PGA Tour? “What’s strange is that if he’s not considering it at all, which I really don’t know, then it would be an insult to make these assumptions and even answer these questions. He might feel insulted by it,” Spieth asserted. “If it were me, and I don’t even know if I ever received an offer, I would say that I like the four-round format the same way we play in the Majors. We play against the best golfers in the world, and what I always wanted to do is be here and try to get wins on the PGA Tour, catch up with the legends of golf. It’s a matter of history and money is a bonus,” he concluded.
Tiger Woods, who also joined the PGA Board as an independent director after the framework agreement of June 6 between the Tour and PIF, was asked if he was surprised that so much had been said about players going back to LIV again. “Would I hypothetically be surprised? Yes, but a lot of different things have happened in the last 48 hours and also in the last few weeks. Things have changed and will continue to change. Our deadline is approaching, so there are a lot of different things happening very quickly because we know we don’t have much time,” Tiger emphasised.
When asked if he was not amazed, he said: “Nothing has really surprised me more than the fact that so many different things have happened so quickly. That’s one of the things that all of us as player directors have been working on, only now everything is at a critical moment. It’s 24 hours a day trying to figure it out,” concluded the winner of 15 Majors. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF said in June that they would reach an agreement before the end of the year.
