Jon Rahm explains explosive LIV decision

The press conference began like many LIV Golf press conferences, with a moderator issuing an introduction. But this wasn’t any LIV presser — this was a Zoom call. Just a bunch of faces and names in little neat boxes. About one minute in, one of those boxes flipped from a blank screen to show the face of Jon Rahm, the No. 3 player in the world, wearing a black LIV Golf letterman jacket. 

The visual wasn’t surprising — Rahm’s decision to join LIV had been reported by various outlets Thursday — but it was still striking. This was the first opportunity to see the golfer himself, and to hear him explain why he was possibly risking his Ryder Cup status, and his standing with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. 

“What [LIV] had to offer was maybe worth the risk of not playing a Ryder Cup,” Rahm said Thursday from New York City. He had been asked if he’d considered that he might be risking his future involvement.

“The decision, like I said, was for me and my family. So what I believe is the better path for me right now, it was worth risking the Ryder Cup.”

Rahm said that detail — playing in future Ryder Cups — was the biggest hurdle for him over these last few weeks, as he and his team weighed his options. It was “a few sleepless weeks” for those closest to him, he said. Rahm had gone silent publicly over those weeks, as rumors swirled online. His agent refused to respond to requests for comment. Those close to him clammed up. That alone speaks to the gravity of it. Rahm, a likely favorite to win PGA Tour Player of the Year honors, just pledged his golf to another tour.

“I think some people are gonna be texting me soon saying, ‘What the heck?’ Right?” Rahm said. “But it’s only understandable. But again, like I said, I believe most of my friends are going to have my back. And the very few that I’ve been able to speak to were pretty much like family, already support me. But it’s been tough. It’s been tough. It’s a topic of conversation that was out there on the golf course every single day. People making jokes, people thinking that they know what they’re talking about, this and that. It has been difficult to just focus on the task at hand and even just practice.”

As for the obvious connections that might draw him to the league, Rahm said Phil Mickelson, a close confidante who left the PGA Tour for LIV in 2022, played no role in his decision. He said he had not discussed it with Sergio Garcia, a mentor who also plays his golf on LIV.

He’ll have plenty of people to talk to in the coming weeks. But for this moment, during the 30-minute press conference, he was facing the press. And he largely followed the party line of prior LIV pressers following PGA Tour exoduses.

Was this at all due to frustration with the PGA Tour? “I’m forever grateful for the PGA Tour and the platform that they allow me to be on,” Rahm said. 

How much of a factor did he consider the traditions of PGA Tour history; traditions and tournaments he so commonly cited? “It’s obviously something that matters,” Rahm said. “But what’s even better than that is hopefully being a pioneer and being the ones that create the legacy that other people will speak of in the future.” 

Was the money a factor? “It’s one of the reasons. Yeah. I’m not going to say here I lied to you. It’s definitely one of the reasons.”

As for the money, Rahm was also following the playbook. He refused to comment on the specifics of the deal — it has been reported worth at least $300 million over multiple years — but acknowledged that he is excited to be a partner of the league, an owner of a franchise and a captain of one of the teams. Naturally, he was asked who might be on the team he’ll be captaining. To that, he was mum.

“You’re going to have to wait and see,” he said with an impish smile.

But do you know?

“You’re going to have to wait and see.”