Sergio Garcia described the arrival of fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm at LIV Golf as ‘exciting’ Thursday. But for the breakaway, it likely feels a lot more than that. For them, it marks the dawn of a new age.
LIV Golf kickstarts its 2024 season – its third since erupting on to the scene in 2022 – on Friday and with it, comes the beginning of ‘Rahmaggedon’.
The circuit already had a 2023 major winner on its roster in Brooks Koepka. In fact it already had a 2022 major winner too in Cam Smith, along with past major champions in the likes of Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
But its capture of the reigning Masters champion just eight months after his victory at Augusta National carried the most significance to date.
And, with Rahm finally set to take to the fairways in all his Legion XIII regalia at Mayakoba in Mexico, LIV is about to find out if its $500million coup will pay off.
LIV Golf kickstarts its 2024 season on Friday and with it comes the new era of Jon Rahm
The Spaniard speaks to the media with his new Legion XIII teammates on Wednesday
Sergio Garcia described the arrival of fellow Spaniard at LIV Golf as ‘exciting’ Thursday
In theory, it should. This is a man who had once declared his fealty to the PGA Tour as one of its most popular players. Now, he’s one of the greatest weapons in LIV’s arsenal, ready to be launched.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf may no longer officially be at war following the June 6 framework agreement but golf’s old order has continued to bleed out.
With his defection, Rahm has brought not just his star power but also a sense of legitimacy to the breakaway sufficient enough to lure away another star.
Rahm managed to persuade Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton to join Legion XIII – LIV’s new 13th team – at the final hour this week.
The move dealt yet another blow to the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ TGL, with all three losing a fan favorite in the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner.
While Rahm brings the star power, Hatton, as Paul Casey put it, brings the ‘fire’.
‘What is he going to add? Some fire,’ the Englishman and member of Bryson DeCheambeau’s Crushers GC said of Hatton Wednesday.
‘He’s a brilliant golfer. He has been for the longest time, since he popped up on the scene in Europe. We’ve seen his victories around the world.
‘With the additions of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, you go through the list of how many major champions are out here, the strength of the field is off the charts.’
Rahm managed to persuade Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton to join his Legion XIII team
Paul Casey of Crushers GC (pictured right) claimed Hatton will bring the ‘fire’ to LIV Golf
And Casey had a point. The PGA Tour has a lot of celebrity appeal with NFL stars Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen teeing it up at Pebble Beach this week but while they’re playing the AT&T Pro-Am, LIV is launching Operation Legion XIII and, for the first time, golf’s star power is arguably split between the two sides.
Rahm and Hatton weren’t the only casualties the Tour suffered through the winter either, with Adrian Meronk and Lucas Herbert also making the switch.
While the pair aren’t necessarily the blockbuster names of Rahm and Hatton, they still pack a punch.
Meronk was voted the DP World Tour player of the year by his fellow pros just earlier this month after winning twice in 2023 and finishing second to McIlroy at the Dubai Desert Classic two weeks ago.
The Pole had been due to make his PGA Tour debut this season after securing one of ten full-time cards made available on the DP World Tour.
But the World No 42 jumped ship four months after being surprisingly snubbed by Luke Donald for a wild card pick for the Ryder Cup in Rome.
Meanwhile, Herbert, who previously declared that his life wouldn’t change a bit if he became a LIV convert, further strengthened the circuit’s Australian fanbase – where its most raucous event is held – by joining Cam Smith’s Ripper GC.
Meanwhile, LIV has been hustling away from the negotiations table this offseason too, heralding in its second full season with the announcement of a deal with Google Cloud.
Rahm is pictured with Crushers GC captain Bryson DeChambeau on Thursday
Adrian Meronk was voted the DP World Tour player of the year by his fellow pros this month
The collaboration features several elements but its most appealing is the ‘Any Shot, Any Time’ feature, which will launch in summer, allowing fans to select exactly which golfers, teams, or groups they want to watch at any given time.
In contrast, the PGA Tour’s event this week will only be shown on live TV for 15-and-a-half hours.
First the PGA Tour scrambled to keep up with LIV’s money, now it’s scrambling to keep up with its coverage.
The PGA Tour did clinch one win over LIV this week, with the season opener overshadowed by a coup for the Tour.
It was confirmed Wednesday that the Tour had closed on an investment of up to $3billion with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium made of US sports team owners led by Fenway Sports Group.
But even that couldn’t completely cast a dark cloud over the preparations for LIV’s Mayakoba opener, as CEO Greg Norman insisted that the PGA Tour’s new mega-money deal would have no impact on his merry band of rebels.
‘Let me make one thing very clear: nothing announced by other tours or investment groups changes LIV Golf’s positive trajectory or future plans,’ Norman wrote in a memo, via the Golf Channel.
‘Golf is now viewed as an asset class. We proved this was possible and are now in a unique position to mold and drive this incredible growth opportunity. This broader interest and commitment to the game, and investment in its future, would not have happened without the emergence of LIV Golf as an innovative force in the golf ecosystem.’
The PGA Tour confirmed a $3billion investment deal with consortium Strategic Sports Group
Masters champion Rahm captions Legion XIII, LIV’s new expansion team for this year
The deal comes eight months after the PGA Tour signed a framework agreement with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf, Public Investment Fund, for a commercial venture and Wednesday’s memo confirmed that a future co-investment from the Saudi Arabian fund was still on the table, subject to regulatory approval.
With the PIF deal still seemingly on, LIV appears to be winning the battle of the merger too.
‘Any investment into the game of golf is gigantic, especially on their side,’ Crusher captain DeCheambeau said after the news broke.
‘You see what we’re doing in communities on our side and continuing to grow with the expansion of the new team and addition of new players, new talent out here. They’re incredible players. You’re just going to see both entities continue to grow, and I hope at some point we’ll come back together. It needs to happen.
‘I hope people can just put down their weapons and come to the table and figure it out because that’s what’s good for the game of golf and for fans in general. But like I said, any additional capital going into the game of golf is always positive. I’ve always said that. It may not be exactly what we all think it should be, but as time goes on, I think things will settle down in a positive way for both.’
Calls for peace from a LIV rebel were not that surprising, but what did turn heads was the PGA Tour’s loyalist-in-chief Rory McIlroy’s bombshell U-turn.
The Northern Irishman has previously been one of the PGA Tour’s staunchest backers during LIV’s foray into the golf world and has continuously hit out at the players who have jumped ship.
Rory McIlroy has performed yet another dramatic U-turn on his stance on LIV Golf’s defectors
Bryson DeChambeau said on Wednesday that he hopes both sides can come back together
However, McIlroy, who softened his stance following Rahm’s deal, reversed his course once again this week after it was confirmed that yet another Ryder Cup teammate, Hatton, had made the move.
‘I think life is about choices,’ said McIlroy. ‘Guys made choices to go and play LIV; guys made choices to stay here. If people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try and do something, let them come back. I mean … I think it’s hard to punish people.
‘I don’t think there should be a punishment for — obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties. It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game. That’s my opinion of it. So, to me, the faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible, I think is great for golf.’
On the eve of its third season, LIV has the potential to be its most threatening yet, with stronger star power at its disposal and PGA rivals waving a white flag. But whether it can actually follow through rests on tomorrow and beyond.
