By the time Jon Rahm announced his defection from the PGA Tour to the rival Saudi-backed LIV golf league, most of us had become numb to this never-ending drama. The unfathomable amount of money being doled out and the petty greed and jealousy of all involved are enough to make even the most ardent golf fan turn the channel. However, while I have had to hold my nose as I have watched this play out, I have not lost interest and continue to follow this saga with great interest. The state of professional men’s golf has implications that reach far and wide and impact every golf organization and innumerable charities around the world.
In general, I try to avoid using this monthly platform to pile on to golf’s newsiest events with my own “hot takes.” Everything that needs to be said about the framework agreement, the questionable decisions made by PGA Tour leadership, and the moral debate of an influx of “sports washed” dollars into a sport that prides itself on honor and respect are as numerous as double bogies on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. That said, I beg your indulgence as I use this CGA Monthly as my very own “therapy couch”.
I suspect many of you CGA members, like me, have fond memories of tuning in on Sundays to hear Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi describe the final-round action on familiar golf courses that featured the best players in the game. In the good old days, the majors had more juice—but every week was well worth some couch time. That generation of PGA Tour players needed to play every week to make a good living and playing well mattered more when the money for finishing 20th barely covered your rental car. (There were no courtesy cars back then!) Tom Kite’s idea of a week off was called Christmas. Lanny Watkins missed tournaments with the frequency that valedictorians cut class. Even the game’s greatest, Jack Nicklaus, played more tournaments on an annual basis than today’s top three players combined. Sadly, the future of professional golf is starting to look eerily like tennis; four majors, when we get to see the best compete against each other, separated by weekly faceless exhibitions.
Much has been made of the antiquated (non-profit) business model under which the PGA Tour operates. This structure has been blamed by many as the foundational flaw that has allowed LIV golf to wreak havoc.. What does not get discussed enough is how that same non-profit model has created well over a billion dollars of charitable support.
Each PGA Tour event is either owned by a non-profit charity or set up to support one. The result is meaningful dollars to support the community. When The INTERNATIONAL was in its heyday here in Colorado, the Boys and Girls Clubs received hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Many other non-profits benefited from the residual generosity of Colorado’s tour stop including the Colorado Golf Association. Annual donations from The INTERNATIONAL were used to create the CGA Junior Endowment Fund which has supported CGA outreach programs for over 25 years.
This model continues to this day and will be on full display this August when the BMW Championship comes to Castle Pines and will result in an estimated $3 to $5 million in charitable support for the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholarship. Today’s LIV vs. PGA Tour battle weakens non-profits like the WGA. Every time a recognizable name jumps ship to LIV; interest declines, and these vital charitable contributions do the same. I highly doubt there will be much charity coming out of LIV—unless you consider overpaid professional golfers to be a charity!
Unlike those who defected before him, Jon Rahm is sliding under the radar. Much of this is simply due to the fatigue of a story that has lost its shininess. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cam Smith, Brooks Koepka, and many others took it on the chin so that Jon could show up in a LIV letter jacket with little blowback. Many have given Rahm a pass and shifted the blame to the PGA Tour for their inability to cut a deal. Who can blame a guy for changing his mind and protecting his financial interests by hedging hundreds of millions that he might never receive if he continues to wait for Jay Monahan to deliver?
But wait a minute. Jon Rahm didn’t change his mind; he changed his values. Changing your mind is deciding to have a vanilla ice cream cone instead of chocolate. Changing your mind is hitting a hard eight instead of a smooth seven. Once upon a time, Jon Rahm could not have been more emphatic in his distaste for the LIV format and made it clear he played for legacy, not for more money.
“Will our lifestyle change if I got $400 million? No, it will not change one bit,” Rahm now famously said. “Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I’ve made and live a very happy life and not play golf again. So I’ve never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I’ve always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that.”
I am at a loss for words, Jon. But then again, so what? What do words matter?