Jon Rahm Roams To LIV Golf

Jon Rahm spoke to LIV Golf’s David Feherty after signing on with the Greg Norman-led league about how he came to the decision to join after months of rumors about being recruited by friends Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson.

When John ROM announced that he had joined Liv there was massive reaction and we know that the PGA Tour the DP World Tour the public investment fund which owns Liv we know that they’re involved in negotiations to become as one we do know because there was a memo

Sent out by Jay Monahan just before uh New Year’s which we’ll get to a little bit later on in the program that they’ve extended the period in which uh they are seeking to come to an agreement and yet when John Rah went to live it seemed to flare

Up a lot of the same emotions that we have seen over the course of the last year and a half this kind of almost trench digging on each side respectively I’m not 100% certain why that happened because there was all kinds of speculation people if those that were that were inclined to

Criticize John Rah to say don’t tell us it was about growing the game this was all about money and I’m thinking to myself wait a minute we’re talking about professional athletes here when I think about that in the context of almost any other sport do not those professional

Athletes that have the luxury of making decision of where they’re going to play generally go to a team or a league that’s going to pay them the most John ROM spoke with Liv golf’s David fary and in this in this interview he explained why he made the decision

John welcome to the Big Apple it’s a big day thank for you yeah it’s it’s a yeah it’s a very important day and and you’re from a a small village in The Basque region of Spain and you you come uh to Arizona State you you don’t speak a

Whole lot of English uh yet you get a degree in Communications but did you ever envisage a day like this in your career back then uh I no I mean this there was no way to think of anything like this or Envision a future like this right uh so

No it was never really a part of it but it’s it’s very exciting that now it is a possibility in a reality well you’ve been the subject of rumors for uh a long time now what was it that finally made you make the leap God yeah it’s uh I’ve been hearing

Some things for a few years now um I think the innovation in in division of live golf is what push me over to to at least give it a chance and and hear the pitch out and uh ultimately ended up being what a I guess I wanted to hear

Right uh I believe on the growth of the game of golf uh I’ve largely spoken about how seevi improved the game of golf in Spain and I’ve always said how I would like to do the same thing over there and if I can reach a bigger

Audience it would be amazing and uh I do believe this process will help me do that was there one aspect of the live Gulf League that you know helped you’re across the line you know it’s even though it’s not part of this sport um it is now though

It was the team aspect of things yeah right some of the biggest sporting events for the most part people are following their teams and I myself growing up being a massive athletic Bill bout fan uh I realized that you know that has a bit of an appeal right much more than than I

Gave a credit to even in golf and uh it’s something that I’m passionate about and something that hopefully I can learn a lot about and and and and improve when your sons are old enough to understand what’s Happening Here how do you explain this decision to

Them uh I don’t even know if they’ll ever care to be honest as long as dad comes home and and keeps buying them trucks to play with I think they’ll be happy uh and so far they only care the dad is Dad right they really don’t care

What I do they just want to see me be happy and I want to see them be happy but if I had to put it into words I would tell them I essentially did what I thought was best for me them their mom and the future of her family you

Speaking of kids we’re attracting uh a younger audience and it’s uh it’s a global audience how do you feel about that very happy uh I’m very much looking forward to seeing some venues overseas it’s it’s one of the appeals right again to see new places new audiences new crowds new golf courses it’s

All something that very few Sports can facilitate and golf can so I’m really looking forward to that and uh getting to experience some of uh the very very good highlights that I’ve seen online do you think people uh underestimate the way the players are invested in the team

Concept I believe so yeah I don’t think it’s spoken about enough I think uh you have some of the best players in the world who are also now leaders of their own team partners of the league in a in a massive business that’s Global that is

Ever growing right so it’s an aspect of the game that I myself looked over that now is U it’s a reality and I can’t wait to get into it and learn more and and hopefully evolve my team and my brand how much uh did the Mickelson Phil and

Tim U influence did they have on you uh with this decision and also you know you’re represented by Steve ly MH same there was no player that actively tried to convince me to Sweet and and take this step right uh they were always happy to answer my questions whether it

Was Tim whether it was Phil whether it was uh Sergio people I’m really close with uh a pat Perez who plays golf conservative with me very often I never had anybody actively pitch me changing my career path uh but everybody was very willing to answer the

Questions that I had I’m a curious guy and wanted to learn about it and you know slowly the love um started to grow all right that is part one from David far speaking with John ROM as to what went into the decision of John ROM deciding to join Liv he specifically

Mentioned the innovation of Li Liv golf the fact that he wanted to grow the game on an international basis and he even referenced sevie bis bis doing the same thing he did mention and he did it multiple times that the team aspect of Liv golf was something that was unique

And that he’s very much looking forward to even mentioning that he thinks that it should be talked about a lot more in terms of and I think that’s part of the Innovation that he was of referencing there too I liked when David asked him how would you describe this to your

Children when they’re old enough to understand what you did and he basically said I did what was best for me uh and then David also spoke to Liv golf with their stated goal that they’re trying to get to a younger demographic and of course a global demographic and at times

I think people forget that John ROM is an international player you can see uh the world rankings graphic that is next to me there you see John ROM number three on the list the next highest uh is Brooks kka at number 17 and and bear in

Mind a live golf is still not getting world ranking points which I still believe is something that they need to figure out that they have to find a way for a Liv golf to get some world ranking points but John Ram wasn’t done in terms

Of what he did how he did it why he did it here is part two of his conversation with David does it feel like a change in your career path or just a a part of the evolution honestly I’ve I’ve made changes in my life uh that maybe now

Seems small but at the time were big right I went from an old Basque High School to Madrid to a Golf Academy all Spanish which it might seem small but it’s still a different language and uh and I left my home right so I was 15 at

The time that was a big change then going to Arizona State with never been in the US didn’t know what college golf was all about had no idea really where I was going or what I was doing in limited English so this almost seems like just another one of

Those steps uh in which I’ve grown so much and have improved my game so much so as far as I’m concerned I just want to be the best golfer I can be and uh this is a good platform for it did you ask advice from any other Live players other than Sergio and

Phil no not really uh no there’s there’s one player whose caddy was my college teammate which is Pooch he cadd Alberto is was a college teammate a roommate of mine for almost four years so obviously I ask him the same questions and I’m curious to see how the Cades get treated

As well and how other players that maybe are not captains get treated but um I never singly act uh you know seek for advice uh but they were again they were always very happy to answer the questions well the rumor started weeks ago I guess you know but what is the uh

Reaction you’ve received to the the people that you have let know what you’re doing it’s it’s been a very close circle of people that have actively let know what what was going on uh and even the people that heard the rumors that wanted to give me their

Opinion uh it’s it’s all been extremely positive um I’m very lucky to have the friends and family that I have and they just want to see me happy so that’s always the answer that I got whatever makes me happy and a lot of them supporting the the possible career

Path well players at the very top of the game like yourself you know have commercial attachments have sponsorships that kind of thing are any of yours you know ready to make this leap with you yeah this is uh this is important I mean my sponsors I I choose them carefully

And luckily they’ve they’ve chosen me back yeah uh and I want to I have a connection with the sponsors that I have to be able to represent them the best I can and uh I can say as of right now that after meeting with with uh with

Callaway and some of their uh Executives they do want to continue this partnership with my transition to live golf so so yeah I’m excited to be able to announce that what have you learned about yourself throughout this this whole process how much time do we have to answer that question

Um I think the number one thing I learned is that I love the game of golf and I’m on the side of golf right when I ever go on discussion I want golf to succeed and the second that at the end of the day a man’s going to make a

Decision which’s best for him and his family right is that simple which is what this boiled down to what do you think the biggest adjustment is going to be for you I don’t know um do you feel like you’re stepping into the unknown a certain extent a little bit it’s a

Different environment right like is a different en I’ve played golf at home with music on I’ve never played a tournament with music on so I think it’s going to be an adjustment period uh but it’s an exciting adjustment right like I’m looking forward to it it’s something

Different it’s something that is on the PJ tour in some events has been talked about before so uh just looking forward to actually seeing it in action we’re looking forward to seeing you in action too congratulations thank you very much thanks for joining me here thank

You so John R speaking with David fary that was courtesy of live Golf and I think about it from the perspective if you were John ROM and you were offered what we’re hearing were massive massive sums of money to join Liv GF with full knowledge that the public in investment fund that

Owns Liv is actively engaged in negotiations with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour to bring all of these tours together so you’re facing the very real Prospect right that you could be playing in the events that you want to play in on the PGA tour in some maybe not so distant

Future the likes of Rory mroy has already came out and said well we need to change the criteria for the Ryder Cup to get someone like John Rah on it paraphrasing I’m not so sure if the vast majority of people would not have made the exact same decision that he made and

Then through the course of the interview you just watched you heard more reasons that were part of the decision process that he went through to decide Liv golf is the right decision for me right now