The US Open this week will be the first major since the shock partnership announcement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and while Jon Rahm said there is a sense of “betrayal” Brooks Koepka is embracing the “chaos”.
Rahm and Koepka – winners of the season's first two majors at The Masters and PGA Championship respectively – were among the players blindsided by the agreement which will see the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and PIF join forces in a new for-profit entity.
The deal is being billed as one that will end the bitter rift that erupted when the breakaway LIV Golf series launched in October 2021. Several of the world's leading players, including Koepka, left the PGA Tour to join LIV, causing significant divisions in men's professional golf.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been branded a “hypocrite” for previously urging players to resist the huge welcome bonuses being offered by LIV Golf only to later accept financial investment from PIF, which finances LIV. “Legacy, not leverage” was the term frequently used by Monahan.
That, combined with the manner in which the announcement was made without informing the players, has left a sour taste with some, said Rahm.
“I think it gets to a point where you want to have faith in management, and I want to have faith that this is the best thing for all of us, but it's clear that that's not the consensus,” said the Spanish world No 2, who turned down a reported $200 million offer from LIV.
“The general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from management.”
Rahm said he understood the need to keep negotiations quiet to avoid leaks to the media, but with so little information available about what the future golf landscape will look like “we're all in a bit of a state of limbo because we don't know what's going on and how much is finalised and how much they can talk about, either”.
The proposed partnership between the PGA Tour and PIF has been the dominant talking point in the build-up to the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club (LACC), and Rahm believes it's causing an unwelcome distraction.
“It's tough when it's the week before a major,” said Rahm, who revealed he was alerted to the news by text message last week. “I thought my phone was going to catch on fire at one point,” he said. “I told [my wife] Kelley I'm going to throw my phone in the drawer and not look at it for four hours because I can't deal with this any more.”
While another layer of uncertainty is the last thing Rahm wants to see at a US Open, Koepka said his ability to shut out distractions is one of his main advantages at a major championship.
“I enjoy the chaos,” said Koepka, whose own future is now uncertain with LIV Golf's very existence thrown into doubt following the agreement.
“The more chaotic things get the easier it gets for me. Everything starts to slow down and I am able to focus on whatever I need to focus on while everybody else is dealing with distractions, worried about other things.”
Focusing on golf, Rahm and Koepka are among the favourites this week, along with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, third-ranked Rory McIlroy and reigning Open champion Cameron Smith.
England's Matt Fitzpatrick defends the title he won last year at Brookline and like many in the field is unfamiliar with the par-70 LACC North Course, which last hosted a PGA Tour event when it held the Los Angeles Open in 1940.
Koepka's PGA Tour triumph at Oak Hill made him the first LIV golfer to win a major title, and signalled his return to top form in the wake of 2021 right knee surgery that he once feared would derail his career.
Now he's eager to challenge for a third US Open title, to go with those he won in 2017 and 2018, and the tougher the US Golf Association makes it, the better he'll like it.
“I just feel like I can outlast everybody when it comes to having to par things to death,” Koepka said.
Rahm, who competed at LACC as a star collegiate golfer, said it can provide just such a test, even though at first glance it doesn't resemble the usual US Open challenge.
“It is a US Open. Fairways and greens, hopefully, two-putt and move on,” Rahm said of what will be required. “I think it's deceptively wide. Those fairways look bigger than they play.
“It makes you think. It's got everything. It's got all the ingredients to be a great week.”
