Sir Nick Faldo tells Jon Rahm he’s wrong in sensational LIV Golf broadside
Sir Nick Faldo has insinuated Jon Rahm was wrong in thinking his switch to LIV Golf would expedite an agreement between the PGA Tour and the breakaway’s backers.
Faldo has never been a fan of the Saudi-backed league and ever since its noisy introduction to the world of men’s professional golf in June 2022 has taken repeated shots at the circuit.
The decorated English golfer previously described LIV as ‘meaningless’ and claimed ‘nobody is really interested’ in watching.
In March, Faldo even went as far as saying that players who decided to join LIV had ‘quit their jobs’.
Earlier in the week, he kept the light-hearted digs coming by declaring he was delighted LIV’s Tyrrell Hatton had decided to play a proper tournament at the British Masters.
Now Faldo has put Rahm in his crosshairs.
He also believes LIV Golf should stay in its own lane and not strike an agreement with the PGA Tour.
“I think they are an island and go and do their own thing,” the six-time major champion told Press Association.
“That’s absolutely fine with me, go and play their tour.
“And I think we are now seeing that, wow, they’ve had three seasons and they haven’t made much impact on the [viewing] numbers.
“Quite amusingly pickleball was bigger than their two stars [Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm] in a play-off, the sort of excitement everyone wants.
“But it got beat for viewership by pickleball.
“I think bottom line is that the players have got the last laugh because they are being rewarded so much either through the size of the prize money or appearance fees and they are not moving the needle.”
Faldo continued: “And I can’t see that changing because, as we know, it’s been so damaging to the public’s attitude to golf.
“I still talk to my producer friends in TV and people are just not watching.
“It’s hurt the attitude towards golf.
“I did 18 years of television and I was told not to talk about prize money.
“When the FedEx Cup went to 10 million, I went, ‘Wow, look at this, this putt is worth 10 million!’
“That was about the only time I mentioned money and now, all of a sudden, it’s ridiculous amounts. It’s really changed it.”
Rahm conceded before the 2024 Masters he thought his switch to LIV would speed up peace talks.
The Spaniard told the BBC he thought his move could’ve proven to be ‘the tipping point’.
Jon Rahm
Faldo said: “I think they all thought why don’t I run off and get all these hundreds of blooming millions and they’ll sort it out in two years and I’ll come back with a boatload.
“I don’t think it is going to work like that and it shouldn’t, to be honest.
“Fine, LIV go and do their thing. They say they are going to supercharge excitement in golf – good luck.
“Some people think they can change the excitement level or view of it, but golf is golf. Golf is outdoor chess.
“The number one goal in golf as a player is to come up the last with a three-shot lead or more, isn’t it?
“But you have people saying, ‘Well, that wasn’t very exciting, a bit anticlimactic’.
“But every player out there wants to come down the last two holes with a cushion.”
Elsewhere, Rahm has slammed reports that he’s unhappy.
Earlier in the month a ‘tour insider’ was quoted in a Golf Digest report suggesting the Spaniard would give back his LIV millions in a heartbeat.
Nothing is further from the truth, according to Rahm.
Read more about that here.
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