Jon Rahm says if money was his driving force he would have joined LIV Golf rather than stay with PGA and DP World Tours
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Updated 01/12/2022 at 16:03 GMT
LIV Golf has spent vast sums recruiting some of the biggest names in the sport. One player who has not jumped ship is Jon Rahm, and the Spaniard has said he is not motivated by money. His aim is to be as good a golfer as he can be, and feels the best way of achieving that is competing against the cream of the sporting crop on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
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Jon Rahm has said if money was his motivating factor he would have jumped ship to LIV Golf.
LIV burst onto the scene earlier this year, with the Saudi-funded series throwing huge sums to sign the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith.
Rahm hinted during the summer that he had turned down a huge offer from LIV, saying his motivation was to win majors.
While LIV and the PGA Tour are on a collision course that could end up in the courts, the emergence of the former prompted the latter to make changes to its schedule and ramp up prize funds.
Rahm feels the players on the PGA Tour should offer thanks to LIV for increasing their earning potential, but said money is a by-product of playing good golf.
"I’m in a very, very, very, very privileged position in life," Rahm said. "Luckily, I’ve played really good golf and I’ve had the opportunity to earn more money than I need.
“I think on this side of things we should be thankful that LIV happened. I don’t know if those changes would have happened if LIV wasn’t in the picture. So to an extent, yeah, we should be thankful.”
The PGA Tour boosted its Player Impact Programme, paying out $100m to the top 20 players who generate the most media attention.
Rahm picked up $6 million for finishing fifth, and said he will not do anything differently in a bid to try and rank higher.
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“I’m not surprised I was in fifth place, pretty much to be expected," Rahm said. "It’s not something I spend much time thinking about, right?
"I’m not going to change how I operate today to go any higher or lower on the PIP, that’s just not who I am. I’m here to win golf tournaments and I’m not going to be doing anything extra to change that.
“I know in the social media aspect of things I might be a little or quite a bit behind a lot of people, but if you play good golf, things usually take care of themselves.
“It’s not why I started playing, it’s not the reason why I play. So when I’m doing my schedule, when I’m practicing and I’m getting my things done, money is not really on my mind. If it was, I probably might have gone to LIV, right? If money is your goal, that’s clearly the path to go down.
“Every decision I make when it comes to golf is to become the best player I can become.”
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