“Without LIV Golf, this wouldn't have happened” - Jon Rahm ‘thankful’ to Saudi-backed league, which forced PGA to make changes
Earlier this year, Jon Rahm had cleared rumors of him joining LIV Golf that he doesn't have any plans of leaving the PGA Tour. He also appreciated the efforts of the Tour to improve the game in the right direction.
Rahm was quoted as saying via Golfweek:
“Yeah, I mean, I think we all know where we stand. There’s still going to be players that choose to transition to LIV is my guess. But for a lot of us, I think we see the direction the PGA Tour is going towards, right? I mean, they’re making the necessary changes to adapt to the new age and I think it’s better for everybody.”
LIV Golf emerged as a threat to the established PGA Tour when it lured a lot of prominent faces with hefty contracts. This forced the PGA Tour to make some drastic changes like elevating the purse size of some events and making sure that the top field competes in these tournaments.
Ahead of The Players Championship last month, the World No. 1 said that these changes were due to the Saudi-backed Tour and that the professionals should be grateful to them to an extent.
Rahm said:
"I mean, without that, without LIV golf, this wouldn't have happened. So to an extent, we should be thankful. This threat has made the PGA Tour want to change things, and I think I said it last week as well.
"I wish it didn't come to the PGA Tour being under fire from somebody else to make those changes and make things better for the players. But I guess it is what we needed, so yeah, it is because of LIV golf, otherwise, we wouldn't have seen any of this."
What's next for Jon Rahm?
Jon Rahm will be teeing off on Thursday, April 13, at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina for the 2023 RBC Heritage. RBC Heritage is also one of the PGA Tour's elevated designated events with a purse size of $20 million.
The World No. 1 is once again the favorite to win this week given his brilliant run so far this year. Rahm has already won four titles this year and is coming to RBC Heritage with a win at the 2023 Masters last week.
Apart from Rahm, most of the top-ranked players will be competing this week. However, Rory McIlroy has pulled out of the RBC Heritage due to undisclosed reasons.
Playing field for RBC Heritage
Here's the playing field for the 2023 RBC Heritage:
- Zach Johnson
- Xander Schauffele
- Wyndham Clark
- Wesley Bryan
- Webb Simpson
- Viktor Hovland
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Tyler Duncan
- Troy Merritt
- Trey Mullinax
- Tony Finau
- Tommy Gibson
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Tom Kim
- Tom Hoge
- Thomas Detry
- Taylor Pendrith
- Taylor Moore
- Taylor Montgomery
- Sungjae Im
- Stewart Cink
- Stephan Jaeger
- Si Woo Kim
- Shane Lowry
- Sepp Straka
- Seamus Power
- Scottie Scheffler
- Scott Stallings
- Scott Piercy
- Satoshi Kodaira
- Sam Stevens
- Sam Ryder
- Sam Burns
- Sahith Theegala
- Ryan Palmer
- Ryan Moore
- Ryan Fox
- Ryan Brehm
- Russell Knox
- Russell Henley
- Robert Streb
- Rickie Fowler
- Richy Werenski
- Peter Malnati
- Patton Kizzire
- Patrick Rodgers
- Patrick Cantlay
- Nico Echavarria
- Nick Taylor
- Nick Hardy
- Nate Lashley
- Min Woo Lee
- Michael Thompson
- Max McGreevy
- Max Homa
- Maverick McNealy
- Matthias Schwab
- Matthew NeSmith
- Matt Wallace
- Matt Kuchar
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Martin Laird
- Mark Hubbard
- Mackenzie Hughes
- Luke List
- Luke Donald
- Lucas Herbert
- Lucas Glover
- Lee Hodges
- Lanto Griffin
- Kurt Kitayama
- Kramer Hickok
- Kevin Tway
- Kevin Streelman
- Kevin Kisner
- Kelly Kraft
- Keith Mitchell
- Keegan Bradley
- K.H. Lee
- Justin Thomas
- Justin Suh
- Justin Rose
- Justin Lower
- Jordan Spieth
- Jon Rahm
- Joel Dahmen
- Jimmy Walker
- Jim Herman
- Jim Furyk
- Jason Dufner
- James Hahn
- J.T. Poston
- J.J. Spaun
- Hayden Buckley
- Harris English
- Greyson Sigg
- Gary Woodland
- Garrick Higgo
- Ernie Els
- Erik van Rooyen
- Emiliano Grillo
- Dylan Frittelli
- Doug Ghim
- Doc Redman
- Denny McCarthy
- Davis Thompson
- Davis Riley
- Davis Love III
- David Lipsky
- Danny Willett
- Corey Conners
- Collin Morikawa
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout
- Chris Kirk
- Chez Reavie
- Chesson Hadley
- Chad Ramey
- Carson Young
- Cameron Young
- Cameron Champ
- Cam Davis
- Callum Tarren
- C.T. Pan
- Brian Harman
- Brian Gay
- Brendon Todd
- Brandon Wu
- Billy Horschel
- Ben Taylor
- Ben Martin
- Ben Griffin
- Beau Hossler
- Austin Smotherman
- Andrew Putnam
- Andrew Landry
- Alex Smalley
- Akshay Bhatia
- Adam Svensson
- Adam Scott
- Adam Schenk
- Adam Long
- Adam Hadwin
- Aaron Rai