The Spaniard wants everyone to know that he still supports the PGA Tour and is tired of the us versus them narrative
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Despite being a large part of the fractured professional golf landscape, on Tuesday Jon Rahm continued his attempt to support both sides in the sport’s civil war.
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The Spaniard wants everyone to know that he still supports the PGA Tour and is tired of the us versus them narrative he sees in golf media. At the PGA Championship, the two-time major champion was asked if the leadership issues on the PGA Tour look differently now that he is a LIV golfer, or “on the other side.”
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“See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not. I still want to support the PGA Tour,” Rahm said from Valhalla ahead of this week’s major. “And I think that’s an important distinction to make. I don’t feel like I’m on the other side. I’m just not playing there.”
Rahm was asked about Monday’s news that PGA Tour policy board member Jimmy Dunne — the man behind June’s PGA Tour-Saudi PIF framework deal — had resigned from his position.
Monday Morning Golf
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“Obviously people are not going to be willing to be sharing that information with me since I’m no longer a part of those discussions, so I couldn’t really tell you,” Rahm said. “I’m going to say what I’ve said all along, I hope we reach a resolution and a resolution that’s beneficial for everyone. But I couldn’t really tell you much about what’s happening.”
Rahm was asked abut the increasing damage being done to the sport while the game’s top players play on separate tours. He said any deal can’t be taken lightly and didn’t seem overly concerned with the ever-extending negotiations that are approaching six months past the original Dec. 31, 2023 deadline.
“I wouldn’t want to see something rushed just to get a resolution and not be comfortable for everybody of having just pushing the issues down the road,” he said. “So since I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors I really can’t tell you, but I think they should take their time to make this work properly.
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“I don’t know if that takes one, two, three, five, six years. I don’t know what that might be like. But I don’t feel like I’m on any rush to make something happen today. I think we have a position to set up golf in a very positive way for decades to come.”
Rahm signed with LIV Golf last December in a stunning move after previously pledging his “fealty” to the PGA Tour. On Tuesday, he reiterated his desire to play some events on the PGA Tour should he ever be allowed back.
“I would like to support it, right. So even though I’m playing full-time on LIV Golf, like I’ve said many times, had I been allowed, I would have played some events earlier in the year, and if allowed in the future and not conflicting with my schedule, I would play in the future,” Rahm said. “The PGA Tour has given me so much and has given me this platform and the opportunity that I’m not really going to turn to the side and go against it, because I’m not going against it.”
His actions seem to have suggested otherwise.
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