Meronk and Day to play PGA Tour but Rahm to LIV rumours persist
Jon Rahm of Spain plays a stroke from the No. 4 tee during the final round of the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 9, 2023.
Adrian Meronk and Jason Day won't go to LIV Golf in 2024, but the Jon Rahm rumours refuse to go away.
As Danish investment firm Saxo predicted in its annual "Outrageous Predictions” list (https://www.home.saxo/content/articles/outrageous-predictions/with-oil-at-usd150-saudis-buy-champions-league-franchise-05122023) that Saudi Arabia, emboldened by surging crude oil prices, will bid to blow up the UEFA Champions League by creating a World Champions League next year, Rahm and his team remain tightlipped on a potential $600 million move to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League.
According to Sky Sports, Europe's Ryder Cup WhatsApp group has been ribbing Rahm over the rumours and received only a shoulder-shrug emoji in response.
LIV Golf insists they remain in the dark over what would be a bombshell signing, according to journalist Alan Shipnuck, who was shot down recently by Phil Mickelson when he suggested the left-hander has been telling people that Rahm was about to sign.
"They said, 'I don't know anything, so unless it's a total surprise like the merger news then…'," Shipnuck tweeted of their response to a query about the possibility of a Rahm announcement yesterday.
Meronk and Day had been strongly linked with LIV Golf, but the Pole and a journalist close to Day knocked that possibility on the head yesterday.
Meronk announced on Instagram he was "excited for the next chapter", adding a video animating him adding his newly-acquired PGA Tour membership card to a digital wallet.
As for Day, the PGA Tour reporter for Australian Golf Digest, Evin Priest, tweeted: "There is nothing to the 'Jason Day to LIV' speculation. He'll be on the PGA Tour in 2024."
While Rahm has consistently said he's not interested in LIV Golf, speculation about his possible departure only increased when he was not included among the marquee names announced for the PGA Tour's American Express tournament in California from January 15-21, where he is the defending champion.
As reigning Masters champion, his departure would be a significant blow to the PGA Tour, which is in talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund as they try to negotiate a merger deal on the Framework Agreement before the December 31 deadline.
To add to the atmosphere of upheaval in professional golf, the R&A and the USGA confirmed the golf ball rollback yesterday, announcing that from January 2028, they will update the testing conditions used for golf ball conformance.
The decision, denounced on social media by the PGA Tour as "disproportional", aims to reduce the impact increased hitting distances have on golf's long-term sustainability while minimising the impact on the recreational game.
The rollback will cause golf's longest hitters, such as Rory McIlroy, to lose 13-15 yards. But amateurs can continue to use existing balls approved for conformance in 2027 as the new measures won't affect them until 2030.
"It will bring back some skills into the pro game that have maybe been lost," McIlroy told Sky Sports. "I actually think it will make the pro game more entertaining to watch - you will see a different variety of games."
According to the governing bodies, the change in testing speed from 120 mph (clubhead speed) to 125 mph is expected to have a minimal distance impact — 5 yards or less—for most recreational golfers.
Padraig Harrington said the change will make the game safer.
"When people (who hit it far) miss, they miss big," Harrington told the BBC. "It is causing play to slow down, it's dangerous, it's expensive for golf courses to build more open and wider so people don't get hurt."
As for opposition from leading Tour players, Harrington added: "Anybody who is successful doesn't want change. If you are at the top, you never want to change - you want to keep it where it is, your winning formula.
"Golf is doing very well at the moment, but the R&A needs to see the bigger picture."
The governing bodies said average professional tour and elite male players are expected to see a reduction of 9-11 yards with a 5-7-yard reduction for an average LET or LPGA player.
Meanwhile, South African Dean Burmester will tee it up in the DP World Tour co-sanctioned Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek today, bidding to become the first player to win three European Tour events in a row since Seve Ballesteros won the Irish Open, the Monte Carlo Open and French Open in 1986.
On the PGA Tour Champions, Darren Clarke will captain six-man Team Europe in the inaugural World Champions Cup at The Concession Golf Club in Florida from today.
Clarke, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson, Alex Čejka and Jesper Parnevik will take on Jim Furyk's Team USA and Ernie Els' Team International today, tomorrow and Sunday with a Pro-Am on Saturday.
The nine-hole format features sessions of Sixball Betterball and Scotch Sixsomes matches today and tomorrow, followed by 12 singles on Sunday.
“I think for the inaugural World Champions Cup, the event itself is going to bring back all those juices that we've had from playing Ryder Cups, Seve Trophies, all sorts of stuff,” Clarke said. “It's going to be exciting.
“Nobody really knows what it's going to be like because we've got so many points to play for. I think there's 162. I think that's what our statistician Robert told me earlier, so if it's wrong, blame him.
“There's so many points, it's going to be so volatile. So it's going to be so exciting to actually get out there. We've got a little bit of wind forecast for the golf course which is going to make it even more challenging.
“I think all in all we're all excited and looking forward to getting out there and competing and just getting those -- this isn't rock up and play with old pals sort of stuff against the other team. We're here to try and win.”
