Spanish golfer Jon Rahm leaves the PGA Tour to join the controversial LIV Golf league, former golfer Greg Norman confirmed this Thursday on his social networks. The decision is cataloged by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) as an “incredible blow.”
WSJ was the medium that announced the connection of Rahm, the number 3 golfer in the world, with LIV Golf, the league created by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, news that became official a few hours later.
In exchange for leaving the PGA Tour, Rahm would receive the best contract LIV Golf has yet offered to the other players who have joined the new league. For example, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson’s contracts are estimated to exceed $100 million a year.
In the past, Rahm had stated that not even a $400 million offer would make him leave the PGA Tour. But now, according to unofficial sources, he could receive 500 million.
Welcome to the LIV family @JonRahmpga. I met you when you were 19 and recognized your immense talent at the time. Your accomplishments since then have been tremendous. Look forward to an incredible journey ahead mate. pic.twitter.com/AgwpEhGHbV
— Greg Norman (@SharkGregNorman) December 7, 2023
“Welcome to the LIV family. With @JonRahmp. I met you when you were 19 and recognized your immense talent at that time. Your accomplishments since then have been tremendous. We look forward to an incredible journey ahead, friend,” Norman said on his Instagram account. x.
But beyond the individual value that the hiring of Rahm may represent, the agreement with one of the most popular golfers of today occurs at a key moment for the world of golf since the two leagues are in the middle of a controversial process of fusion.
LIV Golf was created in 2021 with almost unlimited resources to compete with the PGA Tour and with one of the legends of the sport, Greg Norman, as CEO to wipe the rest of the professional leagues off the map.
From the first moment, LIV Golf has used the checkbook to attract PGA Tour golfers, such as Sergio García, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell, which has caused a true civil war in the sport, in which a Colombian is involved, Juan Sebastián Muñoz, who arrived on the Arab circuit this year.
The controversy over the creation of the LIV and its funds
Other world-renowned figures, such as the American Tiger Woods and the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, have declined LIV Golf’s succulent offers.
In June 2022, a group of about 2,500 people, relatives of victims or survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, criticized the Saudi league and applauded golfers who had refused to join LIV Golf.
In June of this year, Northern Irishman McIlroy declared that he felt “hatred” towards the LIV Golf circuit and expressed his wish for it to disappear. But in June 2023, LIV Golf, PGA Tour and PGA European Tour surprisingly announced that they had begun a merger process that has not yet finished.
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