The final time Jon Rahm performed in Australia he anonymously chipped balls throughout follow rounds for the 2016 World Cup at Kingston Heath because the world’s one hundred and twentieth ranked participant.
However his impending blockbuster transfer to Greg Norman’s LIV Golf league, with a nine-figure contract reportedly set to sway the world No.3, would guarantee a visit to Adelaide in 2024. He could be considered one of seven Masters winners, and two reigning main champions, in motion in what might be the very best assembled area in Australian historical past.
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As hypothesis reached fever-pitch within the US amid stories Rahm, who had spoken beforehand about LIV’s three-round, no-cut tournaments not being “actual golf”, was travelling to New York to finalise a multimillion-dollar deal, golf followers in Adelaide have been already licking their lips.
The inaugural 2023 occasion, staged at The Grange Golf Membership, was a four-day sellout and rated the very best golf occasion of the yr, throughout any tour, on the World Golf Awards.
Already boasting a plethora of main champions, headlined by Australian star Cameron Smith, the addition of Rahm to a area together with reigning US PGA champ Brooks Koepka in addition to {golfing} greats Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson might make the 2024 version past evaluate on the subject of celebrity expertise.
Affirmation of Rahm’s defection to the Saudi-backed tour, amid ongoing negotiations between the US PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Funding Fund that might decide LIV’s future, could be the largest win for Norman, coming forward of simply LIV’s third full season.
Rahm has been silent since rumours first emerged and remained so with questions abounding about what a transfer might imply for his Ryder Cup taking part in standing, given all LIV gamers have been shunned from the biennial competitors performed in Italy this yr.
LIV has additionally been denied world rating factors for occasions, which might imply a drop down the rankings for Rahm just like that of Smith, who joined the tour when he was No.2 on the planet and is now No.23 and sliding, together with his Olympic ambitions on an analogous decline.
Whereas the world awaits Rahm’s choice, one other former main champion, Jason Dufner, can be seeking to be a part of LIV through the inaugural promotions occasion in Abu Dhabi.
The 2015 US PGA winner, Dufner stated modifications to the PGA Tour, his declining standing, and the actual fact LIV would take him around the globe made it extra palatable than taking part in within the US.
“You understand, once I was in my prime for that decade or so, I performed so much around the globe, and I loved it. I loved going to totally different locations,” he stated.
“I loved bringing the sport of golf to locations. I believe within the States we’re spoiled as a result of each week is nearly a brand new occasion in a special location that’s in the USA.
“However individuals in Hong Kong or in Australia or in Abu Dhabi don’t get to see the very best gamers on the planet on a week-to-week foundation, so I at all times thought it was essential once I was among the finest gamers on the planet to sort of go and play globally, so I believe that could be very attention-grabbing to me that this tour sort of performs that international schedule and hits all these totally different spots, attempting to convey the sport of golf.”
These locations, together with Australia, might now get to Rahm too.