Miller: Jon Rahm goes to LIV. Golf will be different now

This is the moment when it all becomes normal. When it is no longer a spectacle, controversial or even taboo. When it’s not about right or wrong or strong opinions or sticking to it. Jon Rahm’s move to LIV Golf is just around the corner and it feels like final confirmation that this is just the way it is. This is what the golf world will be like.

Because this isn’t someone chasing a payday like Dustin Johnson or Brooks Koepka. And he’s not a pariah who snubs the PGA Tour like Phil Mickelson.

This is a golf nerd. An obsessive. A 29-year-old golf history buff who gets up at 6am before the kids can rewatch tournaments on YouTube, who harasses golfers during rounds to learn about the famous shots they hit, who are Spanish youth idols like Seve Ballasteros honors and Jose Maria Olazabal. It’s the same person who shut down LIV rumors in the summer of 2022 by saying he and his wife agreed that LIV money wouldn’t change their lives at all. “I’ve always been very interested in history and heritage,” Rahm said, “and right now the PGA Tour has that.”

Straight away. In retrospect, that was the most important word choice.

The moment Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour went behind the players’ backs and made a deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (the backers of LIV), the calculus changed. Yes, in the short term it put an end to the numerous lawsuits and temporarily put an end to the poaching of LIV players. But it also had two other unintended consequences. First, it led to players losing trust in Monahan, which he will likely never regain. But the less discussed outcome is what could have brought us to this moment: striking a deal with PIF normalized it. And removing that taboo might have taken away the PGA Tour’s best defense.

Let’s go back a bit. You might be thinking, “Aren’t the PGA Tour and PIF working on a deal? Why is LIV still poaching players?” That is a key question. The June 6 framework agreement set a December 31 deadline to reach an agreement in good faith. The detail that’s hard to figure out from the outside is how good that trust is and whether they’re even close to a deal. Already in October, The AthleticsBrendan Quinn reported that sources on both sides doubted a deal would be reached. And it’s no secret that the PGA Tour has been talking to other investors about contingency plans if it loses billions of dollars in Saudi funding (although some reports claim those investors could complement PIF).

So why bother Rahm? Why now? You could interpret it as LIV understanding that a deal might not happen and that it needs to continue to grow its product. That’s the simplest reasoning, and landing the reigning Masters champion and No. 3 player in the world is by far the biggest attraction yet. One worth a reported $566 million, according to De Telegraaf. LIV has brought in some all-time greats like Mickelson and Johnson. And it has landed some current stars like Koepka and Cameron Smith. But depending on your opinion, Rahm might be the best player in the world, and he’s in his prime.

Jon Rahm, left, has joined Brooks Koepka as PGA Tour stars to join LIV. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

The other theory is that this is a bargaining chip. A huge, daunting bargaining chip. The PGA Tour has the clout to woo other investors, who already own the massive TV deals and all the sponsor relationships LIV craves. LIV’s best leverage on the negotiations could be bringing in superstars like Rahm, among others, and forcing the PGA Tour back to the table for substantive negotiations. Do you want your star back? Make a deal. Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will meet for negotiations this week, and perhaps in a month we will all look back on this as the dramatic move that brought waves together. Maybe, just maybe.

But being naive is what got the PGA Tour into such a tough spot in the first place, so for the sake of conversation, let’s assume Rahm just left the PGA Tour and the war continues indefinitely again.

This one affects the tour in a much deeper, more disturbing way. It’s someone who once declared “my allegiance to the PGA Tour” and endorsed Monahan three months ago. Now he’s taking stock of the situation and says he thinks this is the better choice for his career. It’s so, so different. Because it is no longer this taboo, polarizing choice that is shocking the world. Rahm felt this was the better move, and that means he won’t be the last.

Maybe his Masters win changed things. Rahm is such a throwback guy. And now Rahm has a lifetime exemption from the Masters. His 2021 U.S. Open victory takes him into that major through 2031, and he has four more years of exemptions for the PGA Championship and Open Championship. So he’s still set for the next 16 majors, at least, and I’m sure he assumes things will change by 2027 to ensure LIV players get better OWGR status.

Maybe it should. Because this might be the last straw in accepting that we live in a world with two major golf leagues. If we were really honest with ourselves, the PGA Tour still owned the golf landscape until 2023. The PGA Tour had the best young players and the top three or four in the world, and it was certainly a shame that Koepka, Johnson, Smith and so on weren’t there every week, but we still saw them at the majors and it never felt really as too big of a problem. Rahm (and whoever defects now) brings us closer to two watered-down leagues. That’s bad for everyone.

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I prefer LIV to be a good product. Ultimately, I accepted defeat on my moral high ground and said I’d like to see Smith and Koepka, two golfers I really appreciate. As of now, LIV is a very poor product, from courses to presentation to golf. Initial reports about Rahm’s possible departure stated that Rahm wanted certainty that LIV would change the format. It is unclear whether that is even on the table, but OWGR does not agree not to give points to a competition that plays an entire round less than the other. Maybe this all makes LIV a better product.

But the very fact that we are talking about LIV having to get better, the reality that we are thinking about two leagues and accepting their coexistence, only brings us back to the real point. Becoming a member of LIV is no longer scandalous. You won’t get a cancellation. It’s just one more drop in the slow trickle of the new normal.

In August, Rahm was asked what change he would most like to see on the PGA Tour. It wasn’t a large-scale problem, the kind that makes people leave. It wasn’t about money, branding or format.

“I know this is going to sound really stupid,” Rahm said, “but as simple as having a crazy Port-a-Potty on every hole. I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t choose when to go to the bathroom.”

Rahm wasn’t trying to walk away from the PGA Tour. He was just ready to go to LIV, and you can’t help but think that the whole wave will remain in it.

(Top photo: Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images)