Jon Rahm accused of gaslighting following latest LIV Golf claim

Jon Rahm has been called out following his most recent claims regarding the benefits of LIV Golf's global reach.

21 Mar 2024

Jon Rahm has received criticism online for supposedly gaslighting the golf world with his most recent remarks about the LIV Golf League.

Rahm, 29, joined the lucrative Saudi-backed league in December 2023 and has already made his mark on the Tour.

The Spaniard has finished in the top 10 of all four events of the 2024 season, which leaves him second in the season-long individual standings.

Having previously claimed that a move to LIV wouldn't interest him and $400 million wouldn't change his life, Rahm shook the golf world to its core when he appeared live on TV in a LIV Golf bomber jacket to confirm his decision to join the breakaway circuit for a reported $600 million.

Since joining, Rahm has played tournaments with his team, Legion XIII, in three countries outside of the United States, including Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong.

In addition to the obvious uptick in air miles, Rahm also recently revealed that bringing events to audiences that are hungry for golf is one of LIV's biggest objectives.

Speaking to the Howie Games Podcast recently, Rahm said:

“I think it’s one of the big objectives of LIV Golf, playing golf in places that we haven’t played before. It’s very simple. There’s a lot of golf communities that deserve a bigger level of golf that they never got to see.

"I mean, you have 3 of the 4 majors in the US. And before you had WGC’s, some of them were outside, but for the most part you’re playing in some countries in Europe and the US, you never really get out of that.

"So to be able to enjoy Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Adelaide and Singapore, it’s amazing. You expose golf to a crowd that maybe hasn’t seen it before or a crowd that is hungry for golf.”

While it's probably fair to say Rahm's comments came from a good place, they have caused some eyebrows to be raised online, with a number of DP World Tour fans understandably finding the statement to be provocative.

A quick look at the DP World Tour schedule will tell you that the European circuit visits not just Europe but a large number of countries worldwide, including Australia, South Africa, India, Japan, Mauritius, and many more.

It's also worth noting that of LIV's remaining eight regular season events, six are in either America, Spain or England, countries that have hardly been starved of live golf in recent years.

While Rahm's ambitions to "grow the game" may be honourable at first glance, it hasn't taken long for people to pick apart his statement online, with one individual calling the statement "insulting".

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