Newtown Square (United States) (AFP) – LIV Golf’s struggle to survive beyond this season after Saudi backers pulled future financing will not be a distraction for Jon Rahm when the PGA Championship begins Thursday at Aronimink. Rahm, the two-time reigning LIV season champion and 2026 points leader, said Tuesday he has faith that LIV officials will develop a solid plan to sustain the series.
“It’s something we’ve had to deal with,” Rahm said. “But it’s just some things that are out of my control. What I can focus on is the next shot. It’s the people in charge of LIV, whose job I do not envy for a second, … it’s their job to fix it. I have faith in the work they’re doing. I have faith that they’re going to come up with a good plan. Until that plan is explained to us, not that there isn’t anything to worry about, but I don’t think I need to add any attention to it.”
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The 31-year-old Spaniard, winner of the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters, jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV in December 2023 and has dominated this season with LIV titles at Hong Kong in March and Mexico City in April plus runner-up efforts in Riyadh, Adelaide, and South Africa. Rahm noted the irony in his success on shotmaking control on the course but little power to control business matters away from it.
“It’s funny in a sport that we like to be in control so much, how little we are actually in control,” Rahm said. “I’m in control of my golf game. I’m not in control of everything else.” Rahm said any lessons learned from his decision to join LIV “is for me to know” but said his philosophy is that decisions must be made with no regrets or unhappiness. “If the terms change afterwards, like it has happened with LIV that things changed a little bit, it’s an afterthought, not a problem from the choice,” he said.
Rahm said he never thought his move might help bring the still-feuding PGA Tour and LIV together. “I was never thinking I was going to be any sort of weight that would tip the scales to make things come together,” Rahm said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and all we can do is learn from things that happen in the past, good and bad.”
– ‘Precarious spot’ –
Reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy said LIV’s pullout was a risk his rivals took in leaving for $25 million events and rich contracts. “I think it was always a possibility to happen,” McIlroy said. “I think everyone knows with everything that’s happening in the Middle East, that had a lot to do (with it), but whenever you have funding tied so much to the geopolitical landscape in the world, that’s a tricky road to navigate.”
“Their priorities shifted, and that puts LIV in a pretty precarious spot, but it was always a possibility.” McIlroy said he knew of the Saudi Public Investment Fund yanking support beyond this year before LIV confirmed it. “It just feels like the rug was pulled from under their feet and everyone was sort of blindsided by it, but again, that’s the risk those guys chose to take,” said McIlroy. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the air right now. From what I read they’ve got some sponsorship revenue for I don’t know how long. If they do somehow get a schedule together for next year, it seems like it’s going to look drastically different.”
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