I feel a need to recognize and applaud Jon Rahm’s comments after  the 2025 PGA Championship.  Rahm is a former world number 1 professional, who decided to leave the PGA Tour and join the LIV Tour.  Rahm’s reasoning for leaving the tour are many but surely the notion of lifetime financial security for his family was probably the most important.  LIV simply made him an offer, he could not refuse.  The Tour misses the hard charging, swashbuckling and competitive style of Rahm who was a proven winner on tour rising to its highest level as a World No. 1.

Since leaving the PGA Tour, Rahm’s reputation as a leading golf professional is really unknown since LIV has no standing in golf’s world ranking system.  Viewership and media coverage of LIV is virtually unknown and competes with “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” on subterranean networks.  No one really knows how Rahm is playing as LIV hardly appears in any sports network or print media.  Rahm doesn’t need to defend his decision to leave the Tour,  but he is fully accountable for the implications of his decisions.  His decision is a trade-off between financial security for life and his reputation of being one of the best players in the world.  He is also trading off this decision for the potential of his reputation and legacy as an accomplished professional golfer.  Reputation means a lot to the professional golfer and the LIV players are silently not happy with their fall from the pinnacle of golf but they are financially secure.

Rahm’s major championship victories enable him to qualify for participation in the majors.    His performances in these majors have been lackluster by his standards as he hasn’t been able to put four complete rounds together.  At the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, he made a major move in the final round and was in position to challenge Scottie Scheffler for the outright lead in the tournament.  My opinion is that the beginning of the end came on the drivable short par 4, 14th hole when Rahm drove the ball into the right green side bunker.  The lie in the bunker was good and probably 80%+ of the time, the bunker shot would convert to a birdie.  This bunker shot was too short and he missed what looked like a 10 foot putt for birdie and a similar fate would ensue on the easy, par 5, 15th hole–the last hole before the treacherous Green Mile.  Scheffler would come through and birdie both 14 and 15, which required Rahm to get far more aggressive than he may have liked coming in and the risk taking ended up in a blown out finish.

Rahm was a class act in his post-round comments to the press.  He was clearly disappointed in his end of round performance, and clearly realized that his attacking the Green Mile turned out to be disastrous especially the adrenalin laced tee shot on 17 that found the lake.  Rahm took full accountability for his performance and explained that he had to reflect on the experience to figure out what he might have done differently.  It was poignant that he was going home to family to perhaps arrive in time to put his kids to bed as he remarked that his kids were too young to care how he performed.  Family is all important to him.  His performance at the press conference was a class act taking full accountability and demonstrating a high level of humility and respect for the game of golf.

Rahm should be a major factor in the upcoming US Open at Oakmont, but he will have to figure out how to regain that championship swagger he has been able to execute in the past.  I believe the LIV player has an additional mental burden to deal with as these guys are playing team golf every week and not competing with 156 guys and the tournament cut situation.  In any event, Rahm demonstrated considerable class and elan following his failure at the PGA setting a terrific example for all competitors that will also suffer a similar fate in the course of their amateur or professional career.