Gone Rahm

The west coast swing is underway and Chris Kirk is the winner at The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua.

What really jumps out at me is the $20 million dollar purse.

• A whopping $3.6 million for Mr. Kirk.

• $2.16 million awarded to Sahith Theegala for second place

• $1.36 million to Jordan Spieth for bronze.

A few short years ago in 2021 a spry Harris English took home $20k less than Spieth did this year for winning the tournament. With this “new” money the tour is desperately throwing at their players I’m left with one prevailing thought…

The PGA Tour is in trouble.

Latest PGA vs LIV drama

In bigger, broader news Jon Rahm has signed with LIV Golf for a reported $500 million dollars.

Rahm who has career earnings of $57 million and just under $10 million per year from endorsements is definitely not hurting for cash.

Now, am I currently ridiculed at my local course for my outdated setup?

Yes.

Am I currently skiing in boots that are over a decade old?

Yes.

But who am I to tell someone to turn down an amount of money that will financial set up his family for 10 generations.

Not this guy.

Now, the ball has dropped recently and I’m not just talking about Rors vagina. The fallout from this signing is scattered like range balls when a rookie forgets to put the basket under the machine. The big zit on the nose in my humble opinion is Rory McIloy.

But maybe not for the reason you may think.

There are Rory fans and there are Rory haters but he has been very polarizing these last few years to say the least.

I won’t take sides (right now) but I will leave you with perhaps a different opinion.

Even though Rory has suddenly backtracked all the way to the shire it is very obvious why he is worried. LIV players playing in the Ryder cup and other events including majors is suddenly and quickly becoming a huge thorn in the side of the PGA.

I believe with more and more talent making the move to LIV the PGA Tour is going to become a feeder tour. I don’t get paid the big bucks but I imagine there are a lot of old white guys staring at each other in a boardroom somewhere sweating through their slim fit suits.

As far as Rors is concerned, I’m not telling you how to feel about the lucky charms mascot but I will say let’s give the guy a break. If he is guilty of anything it’s that he has been very empowered by his newly found big boy leadership voice.

I’m not from the old school and I’m not from the new school but when I was young, people were scared of someone watching them. Now people are scared no one is watching them. The bigger purses are great and people now more than ever are paid what someone is willing to pay them and that is true whether we agree with it or not.

Cheers and see you on the course or more likely the beer store.

-LW