According to Jon Rahm, LIV Golf should switch to a more conventional 72-hole format in order for the Saudi-backed circuit to be acknowledged by the Official World Golf Rankings.
After guiding his Legion XIII to a team victory at LIV Golf Miami, the defending Masters champion is well-prepared to defend his title at Augusta National. Rahm is arguably the most well-known addition to the team since LIV Golf made its debut in 2021.
With a contract worth an incredible £450 million over the next four and a half years, the Spaniard signed one of the richest contracts in professional sports history. Rahm, along with teammates Kieran Vincent, Caleb Surratt, and Tyrrell Hatton, won almost a million pounds in prize money at Trump National Doral, demonstrating his recent return to form.
In an interview with the BBC, the two-time major winner seemed to consider his first few months with LIV and suggested a path to success along the lines of the PGA Tour: “I think it would help all of this argument a lot if LIV could go to 72 holes.”
“It would be beneficial if we could bring LIV Golf closer to some other things.” I believe it would be for a world tour or something similar to feed into some sort of unity. I may be alone in this, but I would most certainly like returning to 72 holes.
In 2023, the OWGR forbade players from LIV Golf from earning World Ranking points in its events. The body referenced the format of LIV Golf, whose events are 54 holes long instead of the 72 holes and 36-hole cut found in most professional tournaments at the highest level of the game.
In the end, the OWGR was unable to contend with the overall design of the PIF-backed series, which guaranteed berths for specific players—that is, stars who inked multi-year contracts with LIV.
According to board chairman Peter Dawson, “LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked,” as reported by AP. Simply said, they’re not competing in a way that allows them to be ranked fairly with the other 24 tours and the thousands of players that aim to compete on them.
Last weekend in Miami, the LIV Golf team event was won by Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII.
Rahm says, “That’s a well-thought-out argument,” expressing hope that his standing and influence can bring about change inside LIV. In that way, I might be the beginning of a tipping point. I was aware of the potential consequences and weight of [my] choice. That was something I fully understood, which is why choosing wasn’t simple.
“There could be a slight disturbance in the equilibrium of golf.” Luckily, I’ve done a lot in my profession and been well-known in the golf world, particularly in the past year. Few active players could have had a greater influence than me in that regard. Without putting too much emphasis on it, I knew what position I was in.
Additionally, Rahm expressed his unhappiness at the slow progress being made toward a legally binding deal between LIV, the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour. The golf industry was rocked by the “framework agreement,” but negotiations have since stopped.
“If it wasn’t me (making the move), someone else would have at some point,” he said. It became possible for me to accomplish the same thing if the PGA Tour is now willing to collaborate with the PIF or LIV or perhaps come together in some other way.
