Why did Jon Rahm joing LIV Golf? What does it mean for the future of golf and the WM Phoenix Open? Adam Woodard from Golf Week joins The Extra Point to discuss.
This is the extra point an Arizona’s family Originals podcast sponsored by your Phoenix Suns well a bombshell in the golf world today and a sundevil legend right in the middle of it John ROM is joining the live tour announced this afternoon and ROM has been making some media rounds explaining his
Decision let’s talk to a man who actually got to be part of a news conference with him as as John ROM went through why he’s leaving the PGA Tour and joining live golf let’s go out to the east coast and check in with our man Adam Woodard a good friend of the extra
Point here on Arizona’s family thanks for making time for us tonight and uh what was your reaction to hearing the news today something that had been rumored for a while but to actually see it happening John ROM is with live golf yeah it’s one of those things where
There’s there’s so much smoke there’s got to be a little fire there at some point right and we’ve been hearing about this for for the last couple weeks and it’s really picked up especially over the last two weeks so really wasn’t as groundbreaking as I thought it was more
Of just things kind of being confirmed right cuz we had all heard the rumors for so long and wasn’t a matter of when it if it was going to happen but rather when it was going to happen so definitely shocked to to see that the world number three is going especially
Given everything he has said in the past about the PGA Tour and his support for it about Liv and his questions with the format I mean he straight up came out and said that you know shotgun starts 54 holes that’s not a real competition tonight talking to a few reporters on a
Zoom call he said look you know opinions changed I’ve been able I’ve changed my opinion people evolve I have um vaguely hinted at there might be some changes coming to lives format saying that you know he hopes lives he heeds some of his advice so do they make a change to 72
Holes maybe do they change some of their some of their product maybe but he was very you know complimentary of the product and said you know the big word was evolved he said that multiple times you know he’s seen the evolution of Liv over the last two years he’s seen how
It’s become a global product and it’s something he wanted to be a part of and Legacy was also a big thing that he talked about and I guess he sees this as his way to to really make his legacy how much of this do you think is about the
Money and how much of this do you think is about the way the proposed merger was handled with Rah not finding out until right before yeah I definitely I mean he was he’s been outspoken in the past saying that you know he didn’t like the back room dealings and the fact that it
Kind of happened overnight and they didn’t no one knew about it until you know they went on the what is it MSNBC you know broadcast you know yaser and Jay talking about it he was definitely not happy about that but I don’t think the money had as much to play with it um
As some might think sure we’ve seen the the reports of a $600 million deal he obviously didn’t talk about any of his contract specifics with us but he did say that you know he’s been in the past saying money’s not going to change anything money’s not going to change
Anything but it it he did say look they put that offer in front of me right and I had to I had to consider it so I money was definitely part of it he’s not gonna he’s not going to lie to us and say that it wasn’t but I definitely think it was
More the fact that maybe he wasn’t as appreciated as he thought as a Rory mroy as a Tiger Woods was and he thinks he should be and obviously I think he should be as well well he’s the two-time major champion at 29 years old he’s won
A bunch of huge events both on the PGA tour and the DP World Tour reigning Masters champion I mean that’s as high class as you get and when he’s at his best I think he’s the best player in the world you put him and Scotty Victor
Havin you know Rory all of these guys that their best I think John ROM comes out on top of those guys if if they’re all playing their best game and I definitely think that had more to do with it than the money but I obviously
Both of those were were a part of the decision but he was also very clear in saying that this had nothing to do with the framework agreement and I think we can we can take him at his word for that seeing as he made the announcement
Before anything has come out of that so now if if something if some news were to break tomorrow you know that’ll obviously change that and you know given how quick things have moved over the last few weeks I wouldn’t be surprised if something happens before the deadline
But um I would definitely think that the money and the his it doesn’t play as much into it as the fact that he maybe didn’t feel as appreciated on the PGA tour as he probably should have been yeah it’s crazy and to hear you say that
He’s he’s the best golfer in the world right now I mean it just seems like we’re over at Arizona State thinking oh this guy’s really good he maybe you know can join the tour and maybe win a couple tournaments and uh it’s pretty stunning to watch his Ascension here as far as
Just the PGA tour goes how big of a blow is this for the current PGA Tour huge I mean in the last two years they’ve lost two players who are ranked in the top five of the official World Golf Ranking who are the former uh British Open
Champion and cam Smith and now your riging Masters champion John ROM you know exit a tough blow for the tour and it’s it it it puts a lot of credence to something that I can’t remember if it was Jimmy dun or Ed hurle he who said it
During one of those uh comical Senate hearings that they had to go up in front of but when they said look if if Liv is able to take five players a year they could gut us right they could kill us this is a start they’ve taken two of the
Best players on the tour in the last two years now gred they need to pull more people than a Brendan steel a Cameron changal or a Thomas Peters no offense to any of them but the guys that live brought in addition to cam last year weren’t going to be enough to move the
Needle from the tour to them I still don’t think John ROM is a big enough name to move the needle and be able to make live the product that they think it wants to be but it is one heck of a start to be able to get him I mean it’s
It’s the biggest you know it’s the biggest acquisition they’ve made maybe aside from getting DJ to come first because after DJ was the first to go that opened the floodgates for a lot of guys but I’d be curious to see who’s going to be next after this one um you
Know different different reports of people’s names in there obviously Jason day was one of them that a lot of us had heard but he came out and said that wasn’t going to happen it was easy to think him given that the the all aie team you know has two open spots on it
So that was going to be a big name that I think could have been huge for Liv to get but it appears he’s not going so I mean we’ll see who else can go but this is a to go back to your original question massive blow to the tour
Massive so is this almost a moot point if they merge like how do we know anything about how the schedule will work assuming that a deal is is reached before the December 31d dead the December 31st deadline nope that’s that’s the best answer I can give you is
We really don’t know I mean I could I can speculate and guess as much as you want and I can give some thoughts um you know I think something that that John said was interesting was he talked at you know the rider cup was his biggest hurdle right it wasn’t the backlash that
Could come it wasn’t you know being working for a tour that’s funded by Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund we’ve all talked about the sports washing and the issues that they’ve had um but the biggest hurdle for him was the Ryder Cup and he seems to think that
You know he’s going to be able to hold on to both of his PGA Tour and DP World Tour memberships and that he still plans to to play in the rider cup in the future and he even said look I hope that we can get to a point where I can play
The Legacy events that I’ve grown to love on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour you know he’s been he’s a multiple time winner of the Spanish open Spain is very important to him his native country I think he wants to still
Be involved in that if he can so do we know what’s gonna happen and if they’re going to be able to no and anybody who says they do anything is either lying or just you know talking out their rear end but I it’s definitely going to be interesting going forward and I think
John Ram is going to be a pretty important case study considering he does still have his membership on both tours a lot of guys gave up theirs so it’ll be interesting to see what happens he seems to think he can do it but that’s going to be something we’ll have to talk about
In the future and we’re all concerned and wondering here if he’s going to show up for the Phoenix Open there’s a live event scheduled in Las Vegas Super Bowl week which I if it’s on the calendar you would assume they would play it do you think they play both both of those I
Know I know there’s no way to know but if they reach some sort of deadline you think they still would go ahead and play play it as scheduled yeah I think so I mean everything I’ve heard from Liv is where they know last year even coming
Into now we are full steam ahead not even worried about anything they have a full schedule for 2024 aside from a couple events that still haven’t been released um but they they’re already taking you know taking bids for 2025 from courses and they’re getting a lot more International uh interest than than
You know domestic interest as far as courses and people that want to host events so they’ve got a theyve got a list of places that are lined up and and ready to pay some big money to get them there so I mean I would I think it’s
Crazy that they’re hosting an event the same week as a Super Bowl in Vegas I think that’s just absolutely wild more power to them I’m excited to see how it plays out and you know what the interest is like for that but I would assume look they’re all they’re all steam ahead
Everything’s going forward I’d be shocked if they if they changed the schedule or did something different now so do we get you out here or are you going to the Super Bowl in Vegas that’s a great question F yeah a good one to have right good one to have I’ve never
Been the I’ve never been to the Phoenix Open I haven’t I haven’t made my pilgrimage to the people’s open just yet one of our editors who I know you know is out there and tends to go to that and we obviously have a good relationship with our you know partner paper at the
Uh the a republic a central there so uh they they tend to take up a lot of the a lot of the media seats for us there but I’m fingers crossed to get to go at some point because it’s a it’s an incredible event that I’d love to see live at least
Once well and we could drag you in here maybe for the podcast on like Friday or Saturday after a couple long nights and uh see how you than the Phoenix Open that’s way more important than the Phoenix open is getting to be in studio with you absolutely yeah we’ve got like
Dirk Bentley here and Diplo and man all kinds of fun post Malone is coming out I mean Vegas doesn’t have post Malone like they’re not they’re not playing post Malone’s not playing inside a a Coliseum on the golf course right I don’t think so so yeah not to my knowledge I I
Haven’t talked to post in a while so I’m not sure yeah he’s the next guest here on the podcast um so it do you feel like it I mean as we’re heading to this deadline like what has to happen what are The Dominoes that have to fall and
And what what are the storylines that you’re kind of looking at here as far as the F like what the future of golf is going to look like yeah I know I mean a lot of players still aren’t happy about it so I think that’s going to be a
Hurdle they’re going to have to get over um I mean tiger just released a memo that was sent out on you know a week ago to players that was signed by all the player directors saying look we’re actively working forward to to to unite the game of golf and to have this be
Better the the big things to watch are or who are going to be the people who are involved as far as funding for this for-profit entity that the framework agreement Drew up right the the thought is there are five other you know competing companies or investment funds
Hedge funds that want to get involved in addition to not just on top of but also in addition to the public investment fund there’s thought that maybe diluting the piff’s um investment would help get stuff passed in the government standpoint that’s all well above my PR
Grade and I’ve tried to talk to people about it still confuses the ever living heck out of me trying to get that worked out and what it’s going to be but I think it’s just going to be a matter of people there’s going to have to be concessions made on both sides whether
It’s how much money is involved who is involved giving said money um there’s so much stuff that’s still up in the air and frankly not a lot of people are talking about it and for good reason there’s a lot of leaks in golf and I’m surprised not much has gotten out about
This but um I think it’s all just going to come down to who’s going to be involved in how much money and that the getting over the players is going to be a hurdle but also passing the doj’s you know smell test is also going to be
Pretty tough to do uh depending on how much of the piff investment is actually in there given that it’s you know backed by Saudi Arabia and and Jay Monahan or Greg Norman who has a more a higher likelihood of keeping his job you asked the tough questions um
Greg see we Greg kind of did a drop in on a few of us at the Liv golf team championship got to talk to him for the first time and he was confident that he’s going to be around and he’s not going anywhere I mean he’s been a a
Figurehead for this um for for Liv from the start you know whether we call him Figure Head punching bag you know what whatever the word choice you want to use he’s been the guy out front he’s taken a lot of the all and this is what he’s
Always wanted right he’s wanted a global tour dating back to the 90s when he got shut down for the first time he’s he’s achieved that and he he deserves credit for for for finding the people to back him and to do it with right you got to
Give Liv at least a little bit a credit given what they’ve been able to do over the last couple years to to take as many of the players and characters that they’ve done and also to be able to to put together the the the seasons that
They have and the events that they have but Jay lost so much trust with the players he lost so much confidence in a lot of the guys I don’t know if he’s done enough to get that back but he also is going to be the as as things stand
You know he’s going to be the head guy for this new he’s going to be the CEO of this new you know for-profit entity that they create or at least that was the initial plan so I don’t know how he gets outed I don’t know if he’s going to do
Both jobs whether that’s be PGA Tour commissioner and be the head of that for-profit entity I’d have a hard time believing that um but if I if honestly if I had to say it I think it’s Greg I think Greg has a better chance at at keeping his role because he had he
Doesn’t have anything controversial going against him right now and you know Jay’s got a couple hundred people who are still pretty ticked off at him I think yeah and he’s got the money behind him for sure this is going to be fascinating to watch so uh tell us uh
What you’re kind of burning on next where your next article is going to drop on golf week what you’re thinking about doing and uh and where we can follow you up until the news breaks of what the future of golf looks like yeah at golfweek mag and golf week all over our
Social medias we’ll be all over that at Adam Ard on Twitter for me what I got cooking now is T just following up on what’s next for ROM right he did talk a lot about his future and what he wants he talked about his legacy a lot right
And anyone who’s ever listened to John ROM do an interview there’s a chance he’s talked about sebie bosteros right he idolizes the guy he talks about him all the time holds him to an incredibly high regard and the one thing he kept talking about tonight was Legacy Legacy
Legacy he thinks that this is his way to make his Mark to be a captain to be as he to quote a Pioneer for this right sure he wasn’t you know one of the first groups of guys that came but to come and live golf’s third year and they don’t
Have any plans of going away anytime soon he thinks he’s going to be around for a long time this is his way to make his Mark similar to the way that sevie did you know worldwide putting Spanish golf on the map and you know the way he
Was able to bring his passion to the game and Rah thinks he can do that but in a different way with Liv and he’s got a a nine figure deal to to help with that in case it goes south so it’s not a bad consolation prize yeah we’re looking
Forward to seeing him if he’s what he’s driving around the Valley now and uh you know if he if he moves or something like that but he’s he’s he’s always been great to us here you’ve always been great to us here on Arizona’s family the
Extra point and we need to get you out here to cover the Phoenix open at some point hopefully John ROM and maybe even Phil Mickelson would return at some point that would be super fun so uh happy holidays and uh yeah hope to hope to see you soon yeah appreciate you
Having me on you know appreciate the time and uh take care hope to talk soon the extra point podcast is a production of 3TV CBS 5 and aam.com in Phoenix Arizona
