Star golfer Jon Rahm caused a significant stir on Tuesday, culminating in some very incensed comments about the two-time major champion on The Golf Channel.
Rahm announced his plan to join LIV Golf last December, and the PGA Tour suspended him. At the time, the move was considered a “formality” to allow other players to “benefit” from Rahm’s absence.
Several months later, that suspension is still held up. However, it didn’t seem to have compelled Rahm to think differently about the situation. During a Tuesday press conference at the 2024 PGA Championship, Rahm spoke to reporters. The PGA Tour and LIV Golf inevitably came up and Rahm “dispelled” the idea of there being “another side,” claiming he was still a PGA Tour member.
“See, you guys keep saying ‘the other side,’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member,” Rahm said. “Whether suspended or not. I still want to support the PGA Tour. And I think that’s an important distinction to make.
“I don’t feel like I’m on the other side. I’m just not playing there,” Rahm continued.
It’s safe to say those comments didn’t endear him to the panelists on The Golf Channel Tuesday afternoon. In particular, Arron Oberholser responded with choice words.
“He doesn’t get it,” Oberholser said. “To this day, he doesn’t get it. This is a guy who wanted a position or wanted to be heard, from what I understand. Either a board position, policy board, he wanted to be heard on this whole thing before he went to LIV. And I feel like he wasn’t as heard as much as he probably should’ve been, and now, I’m glad he wasn’t in that position because he doesn’t get it.
“I’m incensed by that, quite honestly… You still don’t get it. You took 500 large, and then you’re gonna sit there and tell me, oh, you still feel like a PGA Tour member? I want to support the PGA Tour.
“I mean, I want to wring his neck through the television. I’m that mad right now. I’m that mad. Every player in that locker room on the PGA Tour should be absolutely incensed with him.”
The drama between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf rages on and Tuesday’s comments only stoked the fire further.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022