Jon Rahm told ESPN that while Rory McIlroy has been supportive of his decision to join LIV Golf, Tiger Woods has yet to respond to his attempts to explain his jump from the PGA Tour to the rival circuit.
Rahm, 29. currently ranked No. 3 in the world, joined LIV Golf in December for a deal in the neighborhood of $500 million.
“I mean, Tiger, I texted him and the people that try to reach out, you know, the process, when I signed and I just let him know, ‘Hey, you know, this is a personal decision. I have nothing against anybody,'” Rahm told ESPN’s Marty Smith in a recent interview.
Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open and 2023 Masters champion, is in Saudi Arabia this week for the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah event that begins Friday.
“This is a new change. A big change,” Rahm told ESPN. “I don’t want to skip through this point: A big change how golfers get compensated. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a big part of it. In a nutshell, I’m getting more to play the same sport and have more time. I don’t know about most people, but that sounds great to me.”
Woods has seemingly ghosted Rahm, but the captain of LIV Golf team Legion XIII said that World No. 2 Rory McIlroy responded in a positive manner.
“Rory has been supportive publicly of my decision, and he was privately as well,” Rahm said.
Rahm finished in a tie for third at the season-opening LIV Golf event in Mayakoba (Feb. 2-4) and placed eighth at Las Vegas (Feb. 8-10).
Field Level Media contributed to this report.