Jon Rahm Is the Splash That LIV Golf Needs Going Into Year 3
If Jon Rahm decided to pick up his ball and clubs and leave the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, could you blame him?
Rumors are flying about this year’s Masters champion jumping to the Saudi-backed league, and while I don’t believe he’s going anywhere, my view is admittedly uninformed. I only know that when asked publicly, Rahm has not embraced the idea of jumping to LIV.
Yet, if someone came to you and said you can continue to play the game you love for more money than you’re playing for now, that your time on the road would be less, you’d own part of a team and, by the way, you’d get a signing bonus that would be more money than you could ever spend in your or your kids’ lifetime, do you just say no or do you listen?
That signing bonus is rumored on social media to be in the $600 million range. Is that even possible?
Could Jon Rahm be worth $600 million to LIV Golf? Would he take it?
Kamran Jebreili/AP
Yes, since the Saudi Public Investment Fund is involved.
All you must do is follow the PIF’s actions in sports recently to see that $600 million is not only possible but, if they believe Rahm is a generational player, probable.
PIF owns an 80% stake in the Premier League’s Newcastle United and reportedly offered $400 million to soccer star Lionel Messi.
The PIF has interest in tennis, horse racing, boxing, snooker, wrestling, Formula One and of course golf.
Saudi Arabia is also the only bidder for the 2034 World Cup, which the PIF will be involved in.
All of these actual or potential investments by the sovereign wealth fund only supports the desire to be a player in sports worldwide, and Rahm’s potential presence in LIV could be part of that plan.
And there’s precedent for some of the best players in sports looking beyond legacy leagues for employment.
Julius Erving was not always a member of the Philadelphia 76ers; his professional basketball career began with the Virginia Squires of the ABA when he signed a four-year contract for $500,000, a significant amount in 1971.
The United States Football League didn’t amount to much, but its teams signed many future Hall of Famers including Herschel Walker and Steve Young, who inked enormous contracts at the time before eventually making their way to the NFL.
Young’s was a 10-year, $40 million deal with the Los Angeles Express in 1984, which is $118.4 million in today’s dollars.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan has reportedly already invested more than $2 billion into LIV Golf, and his focus while controlling more than $775 billion has been singular: to not only grow the fund but promote sports in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Spending another $600 million to support the investment may make sense with Rahm.
Having just turned 29 on Nov. 10, the two-time major champion Spaniard is an important cog in the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s plans for the future and would be equally important in not only growing but legitimizing LIV, which after two years has struggled to make much of a splash in the golf market.
Flamboyant and well spoken, Rahm’s game speaks volumes when it is on as it was earlier this year when he won four times in less than three months, including capturing the Masters and jumping to the top of the world rankings.
If Rahm jumps to LIV, it will be a huge pop going into 2024 after a relatively quiet ’23, and the PIF will be making a statement that it’s not going away and is committed to growing its investment in golf.
Rahm would also be foolish to refuse money that would support his family for multiple generations.