Tiger Woods declines Jon Rahms’ Han…

Many people didn’t think Jon Rahm was a good fit for LIV Golf after he made the big money move from the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods was reportedly a member of that gang.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Rahm stated that Woods had not replied to his texts over the transfer, which supposedly brought him close to $500 million:

“You know, Tiger, I contacted him and the folks that tried to get in touch with me about the signing process, and I just told him that this is a personal choice. In a recent interview, Rahm said to ESPN’s Marty Smith, “I have nothing against anybody.”

Though Rahm joined LIV Golf at a different time than players like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau, it is clear that he is not the first. The parties have reconciled to a chilly coexistence, but there are still a lot of behind-the-scenes commercial dealings going on.

Given that Woods continues to be perhaps the greatest stakeholder among players on the PGA Tour, it is not surprising that there is still some enmity there, as evidenced by his refusal to back down from Rahm. Talor Gooch, the 2023 LIV champion, stated that the current Masters champion should have an asterisk next to their name, suggesting that this feeling is still universal.

In public, Woods has expressed support for the PGA Tour reaching an agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia:

“In the end, we hope to include PIF in both our tour and product,” Woods stated at Riviera Country Club earlier this month. We don’t currently have the same financial situation, and the amounts they have brought to the table and what we originally agreed upon in the framework agreement are same. Anything more will certainly go above and beyond this. Now that we’re in this position, maybe we can improve our product both immediately and over time.

However, Rory McIlroy, who was formerly one of the most vocal opponents of the LIV defectors, seems to have recently shown the same kind of conciliatory behavior in private as he has in public: