Jon Rahm says Tiger Woods won't answer his texts about LIV Golf move
There were a lot of people who weren't fans of Jon Rahm making the lucrative jump from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf. That group apparently included Tiger Woods.
Speaking with ESPN in a recent interview, Rahm said Woods had not responded to his texts about the move that reportedly netted him something in the neighborhood of $500 million:
"I mean, Tiger, I texted him and the people that try to reach out, you know, the process, when I signed and I just let him know, 'Hey, you know, this is a personal decision. I have nothing against anybody,'" Rahm told ESPN's Marty Smith in a recent interview.
Rahm obviously isn't the first to join LIV Golf, but his move came at a different time than the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. The two sides involved have settled into a coexistence that is still cold, though with plenty of business machinations still happening behind the scenes.
Woods stonewalling Rahm would indicate there is still some hostility there, which isn't exactly a surprise given that Woods remains arguably the PGA Tour's biggest stakeholder among players. That sentiment still goes both ways, judging from 2023 LIV champion Talor Gooch claiming this year's Masters champion deserves an asterisk.
Publicly, Woods has been supportive of the PGA Tour striking a deal with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund:
“Ultimately, we would like to have PIF be a part of our Tour and a part of our product,” Woods said earlier this month at Riviera Country Club. “Financially, we don’t right now, and the money that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers. Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above. We’re in a position right now [where] hopefully we can make our product better in the short term and long term.”
On the other hand, Rory McIlroy, once the loudest critics of the LIV defectors, has apparently been as conciliatory in private as he has been in public lately:
"Rory has been supportive publicly of my decision, and he was privately as well," Rahm said.
All three of Woods, Rahm and McIlroy will be in the field of The Masters in a couple months.
