LIV Golf has congratulated PGA Tour star Jon Rahm after his win at The Masters to claim his first Green Jacket.
Following the Spaniard’s victory at Augusta National, the official Twitter account of the PGA Tour’s rival has sent a message that reads: “Huge congratulations to @JonRahmpga and everyone at @TheMasters. A thrilling week of golf that has set the tone for a great year of Major Championships.”
Huge congratulations to @JonRahmpga and everyone at @TheMasters. A thrilling week of golf that has set the tone for a great year of Major Championships.April 10, 2023
Rahm eased to victory by four shots over two of LIV Golf’s highest-profile players, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. However, despite the pair missing out, the organisation is likely to consider the tournament a success, particularly as another of its players, 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed, finished tied for fourth.
Those performances helped make a mockery of the suggestion that LIV Golf players would struggle to compete in the intensity of a four-day Major after becoming accustomed to 54-hole tournaments that some have dismissed as little more than exhibitions.
Before the tournament, there had been concerns that there would be unease between LIV Golf players and those from other circuits, too, with Rahm himself even suggesting that the Masters Champions Dinner could be a “tense” occasion given six of its players attended.
That failed to materialise, and if anything, there was camaraderie between the players over the course of the four days of action. During an interview after his opening round, Sergio Garcia said: “I've had nothing but great things from every single player I talk to. Then, after Rahm’s winning putt, Koepka embraced the new champion and afterwards revealed: "I just said congrats. He's been playing really well for a while now."
Whether LIV Golf’s gracious congratulations to Rahm, which was retweeted by its CEO Greg Norman, marks an attempt to offer an olive branch between it and his tour is unclear, but it certainly offered a change of tone to the last time it remarked on anything PGA Tour-related.
Last month, when the PGA Tour announced it was introducing no-cut, limited-field events in 2024, LIV Golf’s Twitter account wrote: “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Congratulations PGA Tour. Welcome to the future.”
It won’t be long until eligible LIV Golf players have another chance to claim a Major. The PGA Championship begins on 18 May at Oak Hill Country Club.
