FLORIDA – Phil Mickelson has been telling people that Jon Rahm signing with LIV Golf is a “done deal,” according to the Fire Pit Collective’s Alan Shipnuck.
Shipnuck’s tweet on Wednesday followed rumors that Rahm is set to leave the PGA Tour for a US$600 million (S$805.3 million) offer from its Saudi-backed rival.
“In recent days Phil has been telling folks that Rahm signing with LIV is a done deal. (They share the same agent.),” Shipnuck tweeted. “But we all know Mickelson is a relentless salesman/b******t artist, so take that for what it’s worth.”
Rahm has repeatedly said that LIV’s 54-hole, team-based format does not interest him and that he’s more interested in legacy than money.
However, he recently withdrew from the virtual TGL backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy before the league was forced to postpone its debut to 2025 after the facility’s roof collapsed. Rahm is also good friends with fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Mickelson, whose brother, Tim, was Rahm’s coach at Arizona State and agent when he first turned pro.
Rahm is not playing in Wood’s Hero World Challenge next week, and he has not addressed rumours that he may bolt for LIV. McIlroy said earlier this month that he would “be surprised” if the world’s No. 3 player joined LIV.
“I spoke to Jon a couple days ago and would be very, very surprised if that were to happen,” McIlroy said Nov 6. “I’m pretty confident Jon is a PGA Tour player.”
Rahm is a two-time major winner and is exempt into each of the four majors for the next five years courtesy of his victory at the 2023 Masters. The inability to play in majors has been seen as one of the significant drawbacks for players joining LIV.
Rahm was also highly critical of the exclusion of LIV players from the Ryder Cup, specifically saying “it would be really stupid of anybody not to lean on Sergio Garcia’s experience.”
Mickelson said in October that he knew more players would be signing with LIV,
“Do I think that? No, I know that’s going to happen,” he said.
That’s despite the league’s future being murky as the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund continue to work on details of their framework agreement in conjunction with the DP World Tour.
LIV released the 2024 schedule on Nov 22, with one of the 12 events to be held in July in Andalucia, Spain.
While several marquee players have been strong in their criticism of LIV, Rahm has supported the decision of players to do what is in their best interests. He also said at last year’s Hero World Challenge that PGA players have benefited greatly from the challenge that LIV presented.
“I think on this side of things we should be thankful that LIV happened,” Rahm said last December. “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.”
He also said at the time that all of the animus between LIV and the PGA Tour is a “waste of time.”
Source : The Straits Times
