Jon Rahm, amid questions swirling about LIV, plays with 'more noise'

Jon Rahm made a few things clear when he spoke to the media Tuesday at the LIV Golf stop in Washington DC — he's not a lawyer, and he's not a businessman. Another one? LIV management “has a lot of hard work to do.”

Rahm, his Legion XIII teammates, and LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil spoke to the media Tuesday at Trump National DC, their first appearance since the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced last week that it would exclusively fund the breakout league for the rest of the season.

O'Neil spoke first, both in a lengthy Q and A session with LIV CCO Ilana Finley and by taking questions from reporters on site. He discussed the business side of things (“I've never seen pressure like this”) and how he feels motivated by pressure (“I feel like we have a clear way to win”).

“I understand that uncertainty is difficult for some people, and I understand that not knowing what the future holds can be a challenge,” she said. “This is 100 percent what I love to do, right now. Everyone is meant for something in their life. I believe this is what I am meant for. I love this moment.”

The most obvious topic of conversation was one of the first questions Rahm asked: Can the league survive without PIF funding?

“I think that's an important question for entrepreneurs,” Rahm said. “We want to be here. It's been a lot of fun. I want to keep competing. I want to keep hanging out with them for a while. But time will tell. Scott and his team have a lot of hard work to do, but they're obviously experienced in the area, and that's why they were chosen to take on this role.”

Rahm said that when he first heard reports about the uncertain future of the league when he was in Mexico a few weeks ago, he tried to ignore them, since at the time they were just rumors and he didn't want to waste energy on them.

“So for me, the real kind came after that,” said Tuesday. I can say, like everyone else, I was surprised, obviously I was not expected. We have heard news that there will be funding for many years, we are not expecting it.”

Last week, Golf Digest reported representatives of several LIV players reached out to the PGA Tour to discuss possible returns.

Rahm said Tuesday he has “no idea” whether he can opt out of his contract.

“I wouldn't tell you. I have very few skills in my life, and learning contract or business are not two,” Rahm said. “Right now, I still have a couple of years left on my contract, and I'm sure they did a great job when they wrote that. So I don't see a lot of ways out, and right now, I'm not really thinking about it since we still have a season to play and the majors to compete in. So it's not something I want to think about right now.”

O'Neil and Rahm both talked about a future business plan but didn't go into specifics. Rahm said that LIV has been good about talking to team captains and listening to them about possible changes so that LIV can continue to improve to improve the business, and he admitted that in order for the business plan to change, there may need to be agreements on the players' end.

“It's a playbook that won't surprise a lot of people once you see it,” O'Neil said, when asked about the right size of the business and whether the wallets could shrink. “We've got a good way through this season luckily, and next year we're going to make some very important changes. It's all the things you've heard from me. If you combine what I've said over the last six months, there won't be many surprises about what you get.”

This week's tournament begins Thursday at Trump National. It is LIV's final program before next week's PGA Championship, where twelve league members are exempt from hosting the second major of the year at Aronimink outside of Philadelphia.

For now, Rahm says questions about LIV's future are just “more noise” but not a distraction. He will win for the third time this season.

“There's no denying it, right?” Rahm said. “But I think we deal with it as athletes honestly. I think it's part of the job a lot of times, and sometimes more noise is inside something that may happen in terms of family that is not public, worse than, I would say, this. At the end of the day, we train enough so when you enter the competitive mode, it doesn't matter. It may be a concern before or after, we have to start saying it. A few times, when it's uncertain and it's beyond our control, there's nothing we can think about.”