Hot Mic Catches Jon Rahm TORCHING LIV Golf | Did They Push Him too Far?

Jon Rahm’s frustration boiled over at a recent LIV Golf event and his harsh criticism was caught on a hot mic, but the question many fans are asking is: “didn’t he sign up for this?”

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John ROM allowed his frustrations to boil over at last weekend’s live golf event with his reaction being caught on one of Liv golf’s hot mics the whole thing set off a huge debate on social media with many fans pointing out that this is exactly what John ROM signed up for when he signed that groundbreaking $600 million deal to join Liv but it does raise an even bigger question of just how far can Liv push its whole golf but louder format and are guys like John ROM valid in some of their frustration and and even more so it spills right over into the PGA Tour as well where this past weekend many fans were accusing the tour of stealing right out of Liv’s Playbook and including some of these exact same broadcast elements leaving us wondering how far can you push the whole entertainment value of the product on both tour so in a second we’re going to dig into exactly what happened what was said some of those player and fan reactions to all this but before we do we want to thank this week’s 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into this John ROM incident so what happened was first and foremost it’s it’s no denying nor is it any secret how much John ROM has been struggling this season you know he came out of 2023 as clearly one of the hottest golfers on the planet and of course that led in part to that huge deal to sign for live $600 million dollars but since then it’s been a bit of a struggle for John ROM uh and again I wonder how much of this plays into that frustration that boiled over last weekend which we’re going to show you in just a second but you got to build that picture of understanding John Ram his best finish he’s had two t uh t3s in Live Events he has not yet won a live event of course the way he finished last season made him a heavy favorite to pick up a quick win on Liv but he’s not quite gotten across cross that line yet um he also as far as the the majors go it’s been a really rough season for him he he finished tied for 43rd at the Masters he of course missed the cut at the PGA Championship and then frustratingly had to withdraw from the US Open due to an injury so it paints this picture of John ROM clearly not being nearly in the place that he wants his game to be in right now and how much of that weighs into this frustration that we’re going to talk about in a second is definitely a factor that we need to consider so getting into it this was at the Nashville live tournament John ROM steps up to the te on the sixth hole it’s a par four there’s all water left and he immediately puts his t- shot directly into the water after doing so he looks up and this clip is all over social media so I’m sure you’ve seen it by now but he looks up and he spots the Drone that’s above his head and what he says is in tournament it’s effing incredible right on my back swing these effing drones every time so I’m not going to say exactly what he said but you know which word was used interestingly enough too when it comes to live uh reportedly and from everything that I’ve seen and dug up uh there’s no fine for players to swear on the open mics that’s something that you’ve seen before on the PGA tour players being fined uh and it just just it feels like every single week on live uh something is caught on a hot mic and it makes its way around social media and honestly it’s kind of been split between fans some love it uh for the uh the rawness of it uh others hate it and it’s just one more part of what they don’t enjoy about the live broadcast but um regardless it’s what was said it what it’s what happened when uh when John ROM was actively blaming the noise of the drone on his poor t-shot but more importantly what happened was the reaction after the fact on social media many many people came out saying that Jon had no right to complain you know this is exactly what he signed up for the literal motto of the live league is golf but louder and a lot of people just kind of really dug into it saying that you know this is exactly the type of spectacle that rah signed up for when he signed his big deal he it’s this is no surprise this is he knew that this is the type of thing that was going to be happening uh we’ll talk more about it in a second but you know at Live Events there are they are generally louder there’s music that’s played there’s things like that saying that really he has he has no leg to stand on but it it raises a bigger question for me it’s just how far whether this be on the PJ tour which we’re going to talk about some of the the broadcast uh was allegedly stolen broadcast uh variability and stuff like that on the PGA tour side but it makes me wonder like where is that limit if there is one how much of this actually needs to be added and we’ve talked before about broadcast golf the golf that we watch on TV is an entertainment product you know th those guys are out there getting paid to entertain viewers whether that be viewers who are live there uh at the event ticketed at the event or whether this is watching at home on the broadcast so the reason for the Drone uh was because of a drone uh shot you know broadcast visuals as well as these drone tracers which we’re going to talk about more in a second and it it’s really a an effort by Liv to create a very visually entertaining uh and and Cutting Edge in a lot of ways product but where is the line and is there one and I want you guys to weigh in in the comments and let me know do you feel like it is the responsibility of the leagues to continue to innovate and push the limits and create new ways to watch and enjoy the game and that that can be on the broadcast that can be even in app where now all the leagues and the tournaments are starting to roll out their own apps with different views live views replays uh overlaid statistics how much of that is something that is is needed and where is The Balancing Act where it starts to become a distraction to the players and if it is a distraction for the players full well knowing how much they are getting paid especially in the Liv side because they’re getting paid to be there um how much of that is something that they just need to learn a new way to live with it and it it just it makes me wonder where are we headed when it comes to broadcast and just in golf in general eneral um you know I I I was actually was recently on a golf trip this past weekend and after we finished up on 18 there was these chairs where you could sit and hang out and just rest a bit and we were sitting there watching a couple of the groups come in and I noticed far more than what I’ve seen in the past uh of of golfers with portable Bluetooth speakers playing music out there and music has been kind of a a point of contention on live as well I I is part of that same trip I was uh talking just generally to some other guys who were there on golf trips just just chatting about Golf and one thing that came up was live and a lot of them had attended Live Events and in that particularly small sample set they were all put off a bit by the music they said it was just a little bit Relentless to have that music playing the entire time um but it makes me wonder like again is that something that’s needed is that the direction that the game uh is headed it’s and it’s becoming more of a common place among casual golfers so will we also see that becoming more common in broadcast and Live Events so weigh in again in the comments let us know if if you’re at whether it be right now it’s that’s not present at a PGA Tour event it may be in the future who knows but at a live event if you’re there to watch do you like the backdrop of having music playing on the grounds uh and and more so does does the golf itself needed it is it something that adds to the experience or does it not and again that boundary of coming back to with a guy like John Rah where in order to accomplish certain things like the Drone tracers the drones need to be there and and I want to go back to one thing that that John said that I thought was an important part of his uh his uh swear Laden quote was he started off by saying in tournament like he was like he was challenging the fact that this was not that they were shooting a promo this is not that they were shooting a live commercial he’s saying actively in a tournament you have this massive or what he put off as a massive distraction of having a drone hovering somewhere in his back swing um so again nuanced is there place for this but it’s just not something to be done in tournament and then going even further to our I know we think of this this is entertainment product but are are more revered if you want to put it that way events the Masters some of the majors the Open Championship do you think there’s a line drawn where it’s okay for your week in week out live or PGA Tour events or Signature Events whatever it may be but once you get to the majors you know shut it down it’s it’s it’s not a time for for all of that chaos going on it’s a good question or will we see this slowly start to leak into our Majors so so John again clearly frustrated but again you got to weigh in what we mentioned earlier how much of that frustration is frustration he’s had building up with his not quite accomplishing what he’s want to so far this season how much of it is possibly some sort of regret that he may be feeling that he joined a league that that allows that um is a lot to to see and watch it play out but speaking of leagues allowing it I want to get into as well this accusation and it it’s so funny that the timing of this because it it relates to the exact same thing on the PGA tour um so let’s get into that in just a second I pause there and do a quick word from our sponsor so if you’re just listening you can’t see this but if you’re watching on YouTube I wanted to pull out and show you guys the brand new FootJoy Pro SLX golf shoes specifically this great X-Wing technology we were first exposed to this earlier in the year when they launched it at the PGA show I wanted to get on my feet in 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have been fantastic for us so far this season all right so interestingly enough drones were also one of the big stories coming out of the PGA Tour event this past weekend so we had a signature event at TPC River Highlands Scotty Sheffer with another win this guy’s just incredible uh and it you know it’s a fun tournament to watch it’s a it’s a very much a counter to the the struggle that we saw at Pinehurst where this becomes a birdie Fest uh but even at these you know incredibly low scores it’s still very entertaining it still came down to a playoff and and I it’s a sidebar I’ve said this before you know I I think there’s a spot for both of these style tournaments in the lineup uh I think you can have your absolute birdie Fest and you can have your grind sessions the reality is all the guys are playing on the same course so there’s a almost arguably equal pressure playing in a birdie Fest and having having to go 22 under just to be in the conversation and be at the top of that leaderboard as there is at these courses where they’re struggling to break par but that aside what it was was we were you know in the broadcast on Sunday I remember watching this live and they’ve got the Drone Tracer technology so similar to what we had at Liv the drone’s up in the air it’s a broadcasting a live feed but even more importantly they’re able to Overlay the Drone and it create I’m sorry they’re over able to Overlay the Tracer and some of the ball flight data and what it creates is a very stunning and Visually formative um graphic you know and you’re able to see this but where the debate came in was as one of these was rolling the announcer said well that’s a first there that is a moving drone with Tracer never been done before on TV now important again he didn’t say never been done on the PGA tour because this was the first time they rolled this technology out at a PGA Tour event he specifically said never been done before on TV and this got a lot of Liv fans really really heated in some of the comments and it’s largely because they felt it was taken either one of two ways either the PGA Tour and through this broadcast were directly lying um and saying that this was the first full well knowing that it wasn’t the context of that being that 9 months ago Liv rolled out almost exact same technology using drones in their events in their broadcasts last season so either they’re trying to sweep that under the rug and just lie and basically say they’re the ones who were the first to debut it or they’re paying so little attention honestly to what’s happening at Liv that maybe they were just toly unaware of the fact that uh that Liv had done this similar thing so it it does make me wonder which of those two is it so so Wai in the comments let me know what you think is it that the PGA Tour is oblivious to what’s going on or is the PGA Tour watching some of as as Liv does push the envelope a little bit right because the drones just all what we were talking about no matter what it’s not without a bit of controversy and we saw that with John ROM and it boiling over but is the PGA Tour watching what Liv’s doing and then basically using that to innovate and bring some new components to their own broadcast on their side and and possibly try to push that off on their own and that’s exactly what a lot of people were alleging so regardless whichever direction it was um fans were upset about it but what it proves to me is this was you know this was a signature event this wasn’t in a uh an alternate event or or or an event where that maybe it’s lower viewership and they figured that was a good place to test it they rolled this out at one of the biggest events of the season and it just tells me that I believe it’s here to stay now we’ve got these drones whizzing around on both the uh the PG tour and Live Events and it all boils down to that same debate that I’m I’ve just been hammering on here because I think it’s something that’s going to be deeply in the conversation as both leagues whether they continue to operate separately or together continue to evolve and try to push that broadcast product is we’re going to see more of this you know Dr things happening overhead and around us and does it create chaos for the players is it something that the players just need to find a way to to tune out uh and and just continue to perform because full well knowing that these massive purses it’s not just on live you know there’s massive increases in in the purses on the PGA tour in order to do that you’ve got to have viewership you’ve got to have broadcast so will players start to accept that as you know excuse the pun but par for the course and and and unfortunate like a reality and likewise from a viewership standpoint is this something that makes the product better or are both leagues trying a bit too hard you know does golf stand on its own as entertaining enough you guys let me know what you think of this whether you’re there in person buying a ticket walking the grounds and watching it live or whether you’re watching it in a broadcast is the golf itself enough or do these leagues need to push and innovate even further to create visuals Ambiance in the in the you know in this case music that’s played at the Live Events is that something that’s required in order to continue the entertainment value and the draw it’s an interesting debate and John ROM’s frustrations boiling over is just I think the tip of the iceberg with it so players are going to either need to find a way to get around it or players may push back and say that some of this stuff can’t be allowed at tournaments be interesting to see we’ll continue to watch as it plays out make sure you guys subscribe wherever you get your podcast and we’ll see you in the next one