in April. Once he reconsidered the realities, his- torical greatness took a backseat to “a duty to set my family up as best as possible,” Rahm said, and “I’m getting paid more to play the same sport and have more time. I don’t know about most people, but that sounds great to me.” Once he left, Rahm came to see his move as a step towards unification. “I could be the start of a tipping point,” he said. Such comments were not popular with his former colleagues at the PGA Tour. According to the anonymous “Undercover Pro” interviewed by Golf Digest senior writer Joel Beall, many PGA Tour players were upset with Rahm because they believe his defection, coming when PIF and the PGA Tour had agreed to cease recruiting during negotiations, widened the schism and prolonged the path to a solution. The players had been unified in staying put on the PGA Tour while a deal was being worked out, and Rahm had hurt that cause. When Rahm said at his press conference at the PGA Championship in May that he still sees him- self as a PGA Tour member despite his suspen-
sion for going to LIV, and that he would play in PGA Tour events if allowed, it drew a strong on-air reaction from former player and Golf Channel commentator Arron Oberholser, who said, “I wanted to wring his neck through the television screen . . . and every player in that locker room, if they watched that, should be incensed.” Whether they are, Rahm’s actions, more than any earlier LIV signing (including those of major-championship winners Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed) brought further clarity to some hard truths. The idea that the best PGA Tour players can be counted on to put the existential health of the tour above their new potential fortunes is over, as is the surety that an elite player in his prime will put a single-minded pursuit of greatness ahead of the new money. Why does that matter? Because the most inter- esting parts of golf history are written through the stories of its best players. When they are at their best, the game is at its best. The striving for glory
KING REIGNS Arnold Palmer won seven majors from 1958 through 1964.
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