Golf: PGA Tour players should be 'thankful' for LIV, says Spain star Jon Rahm
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Jon Rahm thinks all of the animus between LIV and the PGA Tour is a “waste of time.”
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – Count Jon Rahm among those who is thankful for the advent of the LIV Golf Series.
Thanks to the renegade Saudi Arabia-backed circuit, purses on the PGA Tour have gone up precipitously and the Player Impact Programme money increased from US$40 million (S$54 million) to US$100 million in one year.
“On this side of things we should be thankful that LIV happened,” the Spaniard said on Wednesday, ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
“I don’t know if those changes would have happened if LIV wasn’t in the picture. So to an extent, yeah, we should be thankful.
“I just hope... the animosity goes away. I don’t think there needs to be a lawsuit, I don’t think each side needs to be saying anything negative about each other.
“LIV can do their thing and the PGA Tour can do their thing.
“I just don’t see the whole point of them saying something bad and then the PGA Tour responding in a way.
“That to me is just a bit of a waste of time.
“They’re going to do whatever they want and on this side, we’re going to do whatever we want.
“At the end of the day, I think the fans are coming out on top.”
He opened Thursday’s Hero first round with a 73. He was four shots behind leaders Collin Morikawa (United States), Viktor Hovland (Norway), Tom Kim (South Korea) and Sepp Straka (Austria), a late replacement for tournament host Tiger Woods.
The quartet are one shot ahead of Sam Burns. Cameron Young, Max Homa and England’s Tommy Fleetwood are tied at 71 followed by Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau on 72.
There are just 20 players.
Defending champion Hovland’s drive at the 307-yard 14th hole landed on the green and rolled just by the cup, narrowly missing a rare ace on a par-four.
“I like kind of drivable holes because when I’m hitting my driver well, I feel like I can be pretty aggressive,” he said.
“And that green obviously is not the biggest green, but with how soft it is.
“If you land it on the green, you can keep it on the green whereas if it was really firm, you kind of have to land it up in the slope and stuff.” REUTERS
