Jon Rahm is enjoying winning this year's Ryder Cup with his European teammates — but that joy is now overshadowed. Getty Images/Mondadori Portfolio
You can accept Jon Rahm's crass self-serving logic by accepting a check for £450 million ($566.4 million). You can argue that any person, as long as the money offered is attractive enough, has a price. But what you should never do is take anything this Spaniard says seriously again.
As recently as the US Open in June, he blindly swore he was immune to LIV Golf's blandishments. “Would my lifestyle change if I got $400m (£318.2m)? No. This will not change one iota.”
Yes, but $500 million (£397.9 million)? It turns out that this was enough to expose Rahm's claims of loyalty to the PGA Tour as mere bombast. Six months after establishing his status as one of the great traditionalists, he threw in his lot with the defectors.
Independent contractors, as we often hear, have the right to pursue any financial opportunity they choose. You just wish Ram would spare everyone the fake good guy attitude along the way.
He was a man who seemed to place a high value on loyalty. At this year's Ryder Cup in Rome, he embodied the plucky spirit of the European team. In the tumultuous climax of the opening day, when he made two eagles on the final three holes to win his four-ball, Rahm said it was the spirit of Seve Ballesteros that pulled the clinching shot into the cup.
Fast forward 10 weeks and he's just made a decision that may mean he never plays in the Ryder Cup again.
He's shown all his claims are meaningless
That's what's so depressing about the latest award for Liv. Rahm actively encouraged the belief that for him golf was about more than just dollars. He thumped his chest with pride at representing the European Tour. He spoke whimsically of his “loyalty” to the PGA Tour, disdaining the LIV format as fictitious and uncompetitive.
And now with one signature he proves the meaninglessness of all these statements. Nothing brings out the two faces of the modern golfer more than the raging flow of Saudi money.
Ram, as should be obvious, doesn't need the money. He inhabits the same sophisticated world as Rory McIlroy, who lives in a huge mansion in West Palm Beach and admits to only ever using four of its rooms. The huge prize pools at the PGA Tour's «top events», themselves a response to the LIV, ensured that when Rahm won the Masters he earned £12 million ($15 million) by the second week of April.
Last month he earned £6.3 million ($7.9 million) without lifting a finger thanks to his third place finish on Player Impact. And yet this was not enough.
No doubt we'll hear from Rahm in the coming weeks that he's a simple man whose only interest is to «develop a great game of golf,» to borrow Greg Norman's tiresome mantra. LIV's brief history suggests that he will be given a PR cheat sheet from which to lay out his reasons for joining, all of which revolve around one blindingly obvious factor — money.
The grotesqueness of the sums is usually enhanced by the insincerity of the players being seduced.
The grotesqueness of the sums is usually enhanced by the insincerity of the players being seduced.
The grotesqueness of the sums is usually enhanced by the insincerity of the players being seduced.
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There is no part of this agreement to celebrate. Rahm, 29, is recognized as one of the brightest talents in golf, combining an abundance of power as a player with his expressive personality. And now he frequents sideshows that almost no one watches.
He is forced to play in the boondocks.
The LIV narrative is supported solely by the brilliance of its finances and the Saudi power play it represents. Golf itself is a minor league pastime that has yet to reach the mainstream.
Admittedly, LIV has a surplus of standout players in Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith. But who, besides the dedicated hardcore fans, follows him? Norman loudly boasted that the US television rights had been sold to the CW network. But when viewing figures for this year's Mayakoba tour came out, it turned out that only 8,000 families watched the event.
So despite all this, Ram has jumped headfirst into the ocean of wealth, now he has to play in the wilderness. It's quite humbling for a man who has never been more passionate than during his Ryder Cup performance.
He felt a spiritual connection to it. He recalled how he was inspired to take up golf by watching Ballesteros captain Valderrama in 1997. He said it was the honor of a lifetime to take his childhood idol's place as a European hero.
And now? It would not be an exaggeration to say that he could simply kill Seva’s spirit.
Ballesteros, of course, was not averse to the strangely generous salary. But not when it meant burning everything he held dear. This is the Faustian Pact that Ram signed.
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