It's Hard To Believe That Jon Rahm Is The Missing Piece That Will Finally Draw Interest Towards LIV Golf | Mark Harris
Jon Rahm is a two-time major winner, the defending Masters champion, a former World No. 1, and in recent years become one of the more likable golfers on the planet transforming from a bit of a hot head to a father of two who happens to be ridiculously good at golf. He is a superstar, and likely still a rising one at just 29 years old.
Rahm joining LIV Golf is without question the biggest blow the PGA Tour has suffered to date, at least from a player's perspective.
One could easily make the argument today, based on where things seem to be headed in professional golf, that the kill shot for the Tour came when commissioner Jay Monahan sat next to Saudi PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan on national television on June 6 announcing the plans of a merger between the two sides. That's a story for another day, however, as we don't yet know what the conclusion there may be.
You Can't Fault Jon Rahm For Decision To Join LIV Golf
What we do know is that the PGA Tour just lost one of its stars and LIV may have just landed the biggest fish in the pond not named Tiger Woods, and you can't fault Rahm for taking the bait.
Very few people would turn down a contract reportedly between $300 million and $600 million to play golf for a living. It's fair to criticize the source of those millions, but everyone has a price, and Rahm's may have been a tick over half of a billion.
We'd all do much worse things than play golf for even a fraction of that sort of payday.
Jon Rahm's move to LIV Golf is a win for the Saudi circuit, but may not be as big as it hopes. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
While there is no denying that Rahm's departure is a massive loss for the currently constructed PGA Tour, it's fair to speculate that this win for LIV Golf may not be as big as itself and plenty of other people out there are making it out to be.
Jon Rahm May Not Move LIV's Needle
Very few people watch LIV Golf broadcasts and even fewer actually attend the events themselves.
Two months into its broadcasting deal with the CW Network this past season, LIV announced it was going to stop reporting ratings numbers from U.S. broadcasts. You don't do that if the ratings are good.
If you have happened to tune into a LIV event over the last two years the lack of fans is noticeable. A handful of events have had strong crowds on one to two signature holes, specifically in Australia, but more often than not these tournaments have looked like ghost towns.
Saturday tickets for the 2022 LIV tournament at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey were reportedly selling for $1 with other rumors suggesting less than 500 tickets were sold for the LIV Championship in Miami back in October.
Jon Rahm and his move to LIV Golf is a big blow to the PGA Tour. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
LIV is only two years old and still very much in the growing phase of things. But the lack of interest from golf fans for a league that has signed multiple players for $100 million and more is quite the contrast.
This brings me to the point that Rahm joining LIV may not actually move the needle, at all.
LIV Golf already had the likes of Cam Smith, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeCahmbeau, Brooks Koepka, and Sergio Garcia among a handful of other well-known names, and has only managed to drum up a level of interest that you literally have to go searching for.
Rahm immediately became the best player on LIV the moment he put pen to paper. But it's hard to see him as the piece that was missing to get a majority of golf fans to show meaningful interest.
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