Jon Rahm’s $300 million reportedly holding up PGA-PIF talks

Talks between the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the PGA Tour reportedly inched closer to a deal during last week’s talks in New York that would end the long-running war between the Tour and LIV Golf, but the good news came with a massive caveat. 

According to a Bloomberg report, some PGA Tour Players want Jon Rahm and other golfers who made the jump to LIV to have to give back the money they made from their work with the rebel golf league. 

Rahm reportedly received $300 million for his decision to go to LIV last December, and he recently captured an $18 million bonus for winning the season points title.

The folding in of former PGA Tour players has appeared to become a sticking point amid the ongoing talks, and Bloomberg indicated that the negotiations still may fail to yield an agreement. 

Other ideas that have been floated have been for players to pay fines to participate in events, give to charity or come to an agreement to forfeit future career winnings while on the PGA Tour, according to the outlet.

LIV players are not budging on the idea of paying any sort of penalty for leaving the PGA Tour, and Rahm has already said he wouldn’t pay fines to the DP World Tour for breaking the circuit’s rules about participating in competing tournaments. 

While the PGA board has a number of players on it, none of them were present for the meetings that took place last week in Manhattan — during the week of the Sept. 11 terror attacks anniversary. 

A civil war in the sport of golf exploded when LIV Golf began in 2022, but it appeared that tensions were ramping down after a shocking agreement between the Saudi back golf league and the PGA Tour was announced in June 2023. 

Since then, meaningful progress in those talks has come at a snail’s pace.

There have been other sticking points, including whether PGA Tour players would agree to play in events outside of North America, something that they haven’t been keen on doing in the past. 

A deal could get done, with the two sides agreeing to some terms while ironing out other details at a later date.