Augusta (United States) (AFP) – Former world number one Jon Rahm sounded a pessimistic note on the prospects for peace between global golf’s warring factions Tuesday even as he and other LIV golfers prepared to tee it up against PGA Tour pros at the Masters. The first major of the year offers the first time in months that the world’s best golfers will face one another.
Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, said he doesn’t see the long-discussed merger that would bring them together more often on the horizon. “I think we all would like to see that,” Rahm said in a pre-tournament news conference. “But as far as I can tell, and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon.”
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Hopes of a breakthrough in talks between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) that backs LIV had risen after US President Donald Trump hosted PGA and LIV chiefs at the White House last month. Trump remained bullish on the prospects of a deal just a week ago, but a report in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper said negotiations had reached an impasse after the PGA Tour failed to deliver “serious concessions” in exchange for a $1.5 billion PIF investment.
Rahm said that he and most players are in the dark on where things actually stand. “We don’t know. No one knows. We all want a solution, and it’s hard to give one,” Rahm said.
US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau welcomed the major stage as a chance to get all of the game’s best together, but sounded frustrated that progress had stalled on bringing them together more often. “Anytime I get an opportunity to play against everyone, the best players in the world, it’s great,” DeChambeau said. “I think that’s what we’re all hoping for at some point is for that to be figured out.”
“That’s beyond me and beyond my scope, unfortunately,” DeChambeau added. “I think at some point if the players get all together, I think we could figure it out. But it’s a lot more complicated, obviously, than what we all think. Hopefully one day it’ll get figured out and we can make that happen.”
While the jump to LIV Golf has had handsome financial rewards, the acrimonious split has also had repercussions for those who made the move, including slumping in the official world golf rankings that don’t recognize LIV events. Rahm, third when he defected to LIV in December 2023, is now ranked 80th. “A couple weeks to go and I’ll be gone (from the top 100),” he said, but added: “I would still undoubtedly consider myself a top-10 player in the world.”
“But it’s hard to tell nowadays,” Rahm admitted. While the clash between top golfers from the PGA and DP World tours and their LIV counterparts has been a recurring theme from reporters, Rahm said the Masters doesn’t need any such subtext to ramp up the drama. “I don’t think you need to do anything to make the Masters any more special than it already is,” he said.
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