Jon Rahm joins LIV Golf in seismic move that further fractures men’s professional game

More immediately, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the golf-mad governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV, now has a stacked hand as he faces off with the PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan in their upcoming negotiations.

This is aimed at consolidating the 6 June ‘framework agreement’ aimed at bringing Saudi funds into the PGA and DP World Tours. This was supposed to signal peace between the establishment and the upstarts, but has yielded anything but.

Indeed, it was that top secret deal which ultimately prompted Rahm’s move. Until then he was a PGA Tour loyalist, who held LIV and its 54-hole shotgun start format in barely disguised contempt.

Yes, he was friends with Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia who were among the first to cross the divide, but LIV was most certainly not for him. He spoke of “fealty” to the PGA Tour – the place where he wanted to make his own history.

But that loyalty evaporated with the controversial Saudi deal that none of the players saw coming. The arch loyalist suddenly started to speak of “betrayal” and from that moment Monahan and his management team needed to be on alert.

Nevertheless the notion of Rahm making this move still seemed pretty distant. He was signed up to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL simulator league that was due to start early next year, so was still on the establishment side.

But last month he announced that he could not commit to TGL, which then suffered a structural collapse to its prototype stadium in Florida, delaying the project by a year. The roof falling in.

It was a portent to rumours that Rahm was off. They first surfaced at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai just over a fortnight ago and gathered momentum until the dam burst with Thursday’s confirmation.

It leaves the sport deeply fractured. It could be argued that the best five golfers in the world are Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm, Cam Smith and Brooks Koepka.

There is no point in consulting the Official World Golf Rankings because they have been utterly compromised by LIV’s arrival – their 14-tournament circuit receives no recognition from the now outdated OWGR.

Of that unofficial top five, Scheffler and McIlroy are the only non-LIV players. The sport is split down the middle and LIV has growing credibility.

McIlroy is desperate to find a way to reunite the game, but has resigned from the PGA Tour’s board. Woods is the key voice around that now player majority table and his antipathy towards Saudi Arabia is well known.

Indeed, the 15-times major champion turned down a package nearing the billion dollar mark in the early days of LIV’s incarnation. Woods has to be persuaded that Saudi involvement needs to be part of the PGA Tour’s future.

Without it there will be no peace, no unification and men’s professional golf outside the majors will be disparate and diluted. LIV is clearly well placed to pick off more and more big names and rumours are already starting to fly.

Unless a deal is done, and the 31 December deadline is fast approaching, we are left with pro golf headed towards the mish-mashed divided landscape of professional boxing.

“With this crossroads in the sport, I see a lot of similarities between men’s golf and boxing,” leading sports lawyer John Nucci posted on X.

The legal expert observed how boxing’s popularity has suffered with so many different governing bodies. “This has led to scheduling conflicts, diluted talent pools and the turn off of fans.”

Geo-politically, concerns over Saudi Arabian sport washing were brushed aside when the PGA Tour signed the ‘framework agreement’ last June. There was no longer any moral high ground for the loyalists.

I remember asking Rahm if had any qualms over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record when he was defending champion at the 2022 US Open. “I am not going to get into politics,” he flat batted.

What is clear, though, is that money talks. Even for a player who has amassed around $75m in winnings well before his 30th birthday.

This deal is arguably the biggest individual contract in sporting history, especially if add ons from team ownership and sponsorships come to fruition. And, don’t forget he will be playing $20m events every time he tees it up.

But this is pro sport. Money always talks the loudest in this greed driven environment and Rahm’s move offers further proof.