When Jon Rahm announced his departure to LIV Golf last December in exchange for around $550 million, he knew that His decision would have consequences. First of all, sports. The one from Barrika knew the rules that were established in the PGA Tour and his adherence to the Saudi circuit meant that he would stop participating in the tournaments that until recently always marked his calendar. In exchange, he would play in the LIV events, which were less physically demanding.
Unlike what the great players on the planet who remain faithful to the traditional circuit have done, Rahm he has barely had to participate in six tournaments on the millionaire Arab tour, the last one just a few days ago in Australia. And although on paper, the level of difficulty is lower than that which exists on the PGA Tour, Victory is resisting the Spanish and he still doesn’t know what it’s like to win.
This trajectory collides with what was seen a year ago, when At this point in the season he had already won four titles, including the Augusta Masters, an event in which he has also been present this year and where he had the worst performance of his sporting career, finishing in 45th place after struggling to make the cut. The fact of having donned the green jacket in 2023 allows him to play the four Majors until 2028.
Despite not lifting any trophy, Barrika’s is showing his usual consistency. He doesn’t win, but he is always among the best. He is the only LIV Golf player to have finished in the top ten in each of the tournaments. that have been held to date and is second in the overall standings, only behind the Chilean Joaquín Niemann, who has won two events. In addition, Rahm has celebrated two team wins.
It is estimated, however, that His prize pool on the Saudi circuit has already exceeded five million dollars for their individual participations. Where you are noticing the drop is in the world ranking. LIV Golf players do not accumulate points in this classification and The Spaniard has gone from third to fifth place after being surpassed by Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele. In two weeks, at the PGA Championship, he will be able to make up ground and win the third Major of his career.
