By Rory Carroll
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) -Jon Rahm said players on both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf circuit would like to see a resolution to the current split in professional golf but acknowledged that it could take time to achieve.
Rahm, who signed for Saudi-backed LIV in late 2023, made his remarks after the PGA Tour last week reportedly rejected the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s offer to invest $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises in a deal that would have kept LIV Golf intact.
“I think we all would like to see that,” the Spaniard told reporters on Tuesday when asked about getting all of the best players together more often.
“But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon.”
Rahm said having players from both tours competing at the four majors including this week’s Masters does nothing to enhance the already exceptional experience.
“I don’t think you need to do anything to make the Masters any more special than it already is,” said Rahm, who won the tournament two years ago.
“Coming here, there’s no added anything to that. Majors have always been aside from every event in the world, and when you come to one of those, it doesn’t feel any different to what it was before.
“There’s no extra or added anything into the week as there was three, four, five years ago because they’re so special in their own right.”
LIV Golf, which features no-cut, 54-hole events, held its inaugural event in June 2022, and through mega-money contracts and lucrative purses has since lured a number of golf’s biggest names including major champions Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
After a year of acrimony, the PGA Tour, PIF and Europe-based DP World Tour announced a framework agreement in June 2023 to house their commercial operations in a new entity and set Dec. 31 of that year as a deadline to reach a definitive agreement.
That ended legal battles between the parties but raised concerns in Washington from lawmakers who are mistrustful of Saudi Arabia and critical of the country’s human rights record.
The sides extended the deadline as talks between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund dragged on, and U.S. President Donald Trump has participated in the negotiations in the hopes of brokering a deal.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Ed Osmond)
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