By Frank Dalleres
Confirmation of Jon Rahm’s long-rumoured move to LIV Golf for a record-breaking guaranteed fee of $300m (£238m) is imminent, according to reports.
The Spanish two-time major winner has agreed to sign with the lucrative Saudi-backed circuit in a deal that could be worth up to $600m (£477m), the Wall Street Journal reported.
Speculation around Rahm’s future has been rife in recent weeks and his decision not to defend his American Express title on the PGA Tour in January, confirmed this week, has only intensified it.
He would be the biggest coup yet for LIV Golf, which poached several PGA Tour stars, including Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, for huge signing-on fees in its 2021 launch season.
Rahm’s reported $300m fee for a five-year commitment to the tour is twice what former world No1 Johnson received and three times the sum US PGA champion Koepka received.
It is also around double the total prize money won by 15-time major winner Tiger Woods, the highest earning golfer in history.
Rahm’s offer also includes equity in his own franchise in the team-based circuit, a component estimated to be worth an additional $150m-$300m, say reports.
He previously reisited overtures from LIV Golf, insisting he would stay loyal to the PGA Tour and its European partner, the DP World Tour.
But the sudden announcement in June that the PGA and DP World Tours were in talks with the Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV, over a merger of properties under one organisation dismayed some players who felt they had been betrayed.
Rahm’s move to LIV Golf would raise fresh questions about the likelihood of those talks reaching fruition given that they have failed to be result in agreement yet.
