The Spanish golfer Jon Rahm He is leaving the PGA Tour to join the controversial LIV Golf league, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced Thursday, calling the decision an “incredible blow.”
The WSJ noted that the official announcement of the connection of Rahm, the number 3 golfer in the world, to LIV Golf, the league created by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, could happen this week.
In exchange for leaving the PGA Tour, Rahm will receive the best contract LIV Golf has offered other golfers who join the new league. For example, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson’s contracts are estimated to exceed $100 million per year.
In the past, Rahm has said that even an offer of $400 million would not get him off the PGA Tour and there was talk that the offer was between $450 and $600 million.
But beyond the individual value that Rahm’s acquisition may represent, the deal with one of the most popular golfers of all time comes at a pivotal moment for the golf world as the two leagues are in the midst of a contentious 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 used the checkbook to attract PGA Tour players, such as Sergio García, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell, causing a veritable civil war in the sport.
Others, like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, turned down LIV Golf’s juicy 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 the golfers who refused to join the LIV Golf.
In June of this year, Northern Irishman McIlroy revealed that he felt “hate” at the LIV Golf circuit and expressed his desire to get rid of it.
But in June 2023, LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and the PGA European Tour surprisingly announced that they had begun a merger process that is not yet complete.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
