Tiger Woods ghosting John Rahm since LIV move

Jon Rahm says Tiger Woods never responded when he attempted to explain his move to LIV Golf.

The 29-year-old Spaniard now ranked No 3 in the world, joined the circuit in December for a deal in the neighbourhood of $500m.

During a recent interview with ESPN, Rahm said he tried texting Woods to discuss his departure.

“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’,” said Rahm.

Rahm, the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters champion, is in Saudi Arabia this week for the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah event that begins on Friday.

Woods seemingly ghosted Rahm, but the captain of the LIV Golf team Legion XIII said 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 (February 2-4) and placed eighth at Las Vegas (February 8-10).

• Still smarting over not being invited to this April’s Masters Tournament, Talor Gooch said the idea of basing Majors eligibility on the official world golf ranking (OWGR) is antiquated.

Gooch, the LIV Golf individual champion in 2023, isn’t earning ranking points because of his league affiliation. He’s fallen to No 449 in the rankings because the OWGR system doesn’t recognise LIV participation.

In an interview with Australian Golf Digest, posted on Tuesday, Gooch said not having the top players in the field only dilutes the end results.

“If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there's just going to be an asterisk,” he said. “It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the Majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.”

Gooch, 32, gave up his PGA Tour membership in 2022 when he moved to the upstart, big-money LIV circuit. He had one career PGA Tour win and $9.25m in earnings — well eclipsed by the $46.5m he won in his first two LIV seasons.

Despite winning three tournaments and the LIV title in 2023, Gooch didn’t receive one of three invitations to the Masters issued by officials at Augusta National.

One of the invites went to LIV’s Joaquin Niemann of Chile, who was credited by Masters officials for his win at the ISPS Handa Australian Open and two other sanctioned events.

“Hopefully the day will turn when the Majors decide to start rewarding good play on LIV. Hopefully, that’ll be sooner than later,” said Gooch.

England’s Lee Westwood, a former World No 1 now playing in the LIV league, told Australian Golf Digest that it is time for a change.

“The official world golf ranking has got itself into a real hole. It’s got itself to a point where it’s obsolete if I’m being completely honest,” said Westwood, 50.

“It’s managed to be so stubborn that it no longer ranks all the best golfers in the world fairly. And it’s gone so far that I don’t see how it can come back from the hole that it’s in because you can’t backdate them.”

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