Here we go again! Another busy time in the sports world.
The biggest stories are the Jon Rahm’s move to the LIV golf tour and Shohei Ohtani signing with the Dodgers. The money was huge for both these athletes. The Rahm deal according to ESPN was North of 300 million for three years and Ohtani was 10 years 700 million dollars. That is serious money!
Jon Rahm, who for the past 18 months was a huge supporter of the PGA Tour has certainly changed his tune by this move and sent a very strong message to Commissioner Jay Monahan. IMO this moves runs deeper and could involve more players. The fact that Commissioner Monahan did not make the players aware that the Tour was in negotiations with LIV has had a much larger impact than was initially thought. As a top three player in the WGR I think he felt left out of the decision making process. The PGA Tour disrespected him. He wanted a voice and the PGA Tour failed to recognise that. He is a Masters and US Open champ and an eight time winner on tour. He has earned that voice.
Rahm is exempt for all the majors for the next five years and at this point in his career that is all that matters to him. Spanish golfers have a huge respect factor for their fellow countryman with Seve Ballesteros as the gold standard. It is my belief that he wants to tie or surpass Ballesteros’s five majors and cementing him as one of the greatest Spanish golfers of all time. He doesn’t have to play for the money, even though he has career earnings of 50 million plus. He will now be playing for Major titles with an extra 300 million in his wallet and will probably be very motivated in doing so. BTW The Ryder Cup rules will change shortly, you can count on that. Why you ask? The tournament will be better with Rahm, DJ, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, and dare I say Bryson DeChambeau ! Also the money for broadcasting said event will also increase benefiting the PGA of America and The DP World Tour. You see it always comes down to the money.
Shohei Ohtani signing with Dodgers was always going to happen. This guy was not leaving Southern California for Toronto. Sorry Blue Jay fans, you got used! It was a master class in negotiations. If the Rogers Group was prepared to pony up close to 70 million a year for one player, then think how many players you can get to improved your line up so you can finally take a run at winning a championship. It is about the 26 best players coming together to win, not one big star and 25 others. I get why they had to do it, it’s Toronto and that is what they do!
It will be an interesting start to the month of April. Baseball starts in or around April 1st and the Masters starts April 8th. Going to be interesting to see who gets the most air time. Probably Rahm because he gets to host the Champions Dinner at the Masters LOL.
Until next time!
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