Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm called on LIV Golf to move to the 72-hole tournament format that the PGA Tour uses as a way to help reunify the divided sport.
Rahm told the British Broadcasting Corporation in an interview that the move would help improve the situation as golf remains split between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, which Rahm jumped ship to in December.
“If there ever was a way where LIV could go to 72 holes, I think it would help all of this argument a lot,” Rahm said. “The closer I think we can get LIV Golf to some other things the better. I think it would be for some kind of unification to feed into a world tour or something like that.
“I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but I definitely wouldn’t mind going back to 72 holes.”
The war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf took a shocking turn last June when the PGA Tour and the PIF, which bankrolls LIV, announced a “framework agreement” for the PIF to invest in the new for-profit entity PGA Tour Enterprises.
An official agreement has yet to be finalized and the talks between the two sides have dragged on, with the latest meeting between PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and the PIF coming on March 18 in the Bahamas, according to ESPN.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan could be in attendance at this year’s Masters, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Rahm is one of 13 LIV Golf players who will compete in the Masters this year when the event begins at Augusta National Golf Club.
The 29-year old’s defection to LIV Golf made waves in the golf world when it had happened in December, and he told the British Broadcasting Corporation that he was aware of the impact his decision would have across the sport.
“That’s a well-thought-out argument. I could be the start of a tipping point in that sense,” Rahm told the outlet. “I understood the weight that [my] decision could have and the impact it could have. I understood that perfectly and that’s why it wasn’t an easy decision.
“The balance of golf could be disturbed a little bit. Luckily in my career, especially last year, I accomplished a lot and I got to be one of the bigger names in golf. There are few active players that could have had a bigger impact than myself in that sense. Not to be patting myself on the back too much, but I understood the position I was in.”
