Jon Rahm criticizes PGA Tour’s LIV response: ‘Wasted opportunity’

Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy are on the identical facet in the case of the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle. Both have remained totally dedicated to the PGA Tour.

That doesn’t imply Rahm and McIlroy have at all times seen eye-to-eye on the state of affairs, particularly given Rahm’s uneasiness in committing to enjoying 20 instances on the PGA Tour every season.

And whereas McIlroy hasn’t actually gone so far as to critique the PGA Tour’s strikes in its combat towards LIV Golf, Rahm didn’t maintain again Wednesday.

“I’m not going to lie and tell you I agree with everything the PGA Tour has done,” Rahm instructed the media forward of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “It was a mistake and a wasted opportunity to not meet with LIV. Both sides missed the mark on that. And that is where a lot of the animosity started.”

McIlroy has been slowly shifting nearer to suggesting a truce between the 2 entities in current weeks, once more suggesting Tuesday there may very well be peace between the 2 sides, and that was one thing Rahm additionally agreed with in his feedback.

Both additionally agree on the perpetrator for why negotiations haven’t taken place: LIV CEO Greg Norman.

“I think Greg has had a vendetta against the PGA Tour for a long time,” Rahm stated. “And when you have an ulterior motive, it can cloud your judgment a little bit. Greg is a player, not a businessman, even if he has been successful in that area. To me, he has an ulterior motive beyond just creating a golf tour. He’s had this vengeance for 30 years.”

That vengeance stems from Norman’s failed try within the Nineteen Nineties to begin a World Golf Tour. PGA Tour gamers led by Arnold Palmer rebuked the concept and the tour by no means acquired off the bottom regardless of securing a media rights deal from Fox Sports (The irony just isn’t misplaced right here).

McIlroy stated Tuesday Norman ought to “exit stage left” and Rahm additionally felt Norman, who’s now the topic of rumors to get replaced by former TaylorMade government Mark King as CEO of LIV Golf, just isn’t “the best person for the job.”

“His intentions might not be as pure as they could, which is a problem,” Rahm stated. “So he may not be the most effective particular person for the job, even when he has finished nice issues for the tour. I do consider that, for conversations to happen, Greg may must be gone. Right now, it doesn’t appear to be he and [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay [Monahan] will need to be in the identical room collectively.

“Even if they disagreed, it would have been good to talk. So to get a resolution we might need one or both of them gone. I hope not. Jay has done a great job for the PGA Tour.”

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is 2020 graduate of Penn State University, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf crew and nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Before becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but in addition producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He could be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.