Before LIV Golf and the PGA Tour agreed to the outline of a merger, the Saudi Arabia-backed league tried to sign Jon Rahm but failed in their attempt to sign the golf star for a surprising reason.
There has been no bigger story in the world of golf than the bitter war that developed between the PGA and upstart league LIV Golf. The Tour has been the top golf circuit for over a century, however, LIV was able to quickly become a serious threat due to the financial backing of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
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The PIF is an arm of the oil-rich Saudi government and reportedly manages over $800 billion dollars. That money was used in a major way as LIV was able to throw huge signing bonuses at PGA stars and offer some of the biggest tournament winnings in the sport.
The strategy worked and they lured away well-known Tour talent like Phil Michelson, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau since the league began in 2022. However, there were some stars — like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods — that remained loyal and passed on those unheard-of offers.
Jon Rahm reportedly asked for an obscene amount of money from LIV Golf
Before the start of the 2023 PGA season, it seems that LIV again attempted to persuade over a dozen players to switch sides, much like they did in 2022. One specific player they targeted is the man currently ranked at three in the World Golf Rankings, Jon Rahm.
However, LIV failed in their attempts to sign the 2023 Masters winner for a surprising reason, as DP World Tour player Eddie Pepperell explained during a recent appearance on “The Chipping Forecast.”
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“I heard that Jon Rahm … I heard that LIV had approached 15 players this year asking them for a rough figure as to what would get them across and I was told that Rahm’s figure was so prohibitively large that LIV rejected it. So, make of that what you want.”
– Eddie Pepperell
That is quite a surprising revelation considering the fact that LIV reportedly gave some former PGA players signing bonuses of over $100 million to join their league. One can only wonder about the number that Rahm gave that actually made the PIF blush.