LIV Golf Has Already Gifted Jon Rahm an Extra $3.3 Million in 2023
When you think about the most dominant athletes in sports right now, your mind probably goes first to Patrick Mahomes, Nikola Jokic, or maybe Shohei Ohtani. Well, it’s about time you add Jon Rahm to that list.
Rahm just won the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club to mark his third victory in five PGA Tour starts in 2023. The Spaniard has now won five of his last eight worldwide starts, and he hasn’t finished worse than T7 since the Tour Championship back in August.
Thanks to his scorching hot start to the year, Rahm has banked nearly $10 million in PGA Tour earnings this season alone. That total would be $3.3 million lower, though, if it wasn’t for LIV Golf.
Jon Rahm has already banked close to $10 million this season
There are only a handful of golfers on the PGA Tour today who can show up to any event and know they’re going to win if they bring their A-game. Rory McIlroy is the leader of that group, and Scottie Scheffler joined him at this time last year. After five wins in his last eight starts, Rahm has now entered the conversation.
Rahm’s hot streak began with a six-stroke victory at the DP World Tour’s acciona Open de España presented by Madrid in October. He followed that up with a T4 at the CJ Cup the same month and another win at the DP World Tour Championship in November.
In his first PGA Tour start of 2023, Rahm erased a six-shot deficit on Sunday to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He returned to competition two weeks later and won the American Express at 27 under par. After a T7 at the Farmers Insurance Open and a solo third at the WM Phoenix Open, the 28-year-old held off Max Homa on Sunday to win the Genesis Invitational by two shots.
In just six PGA Tour starts this season, Rahm has racked up an impressive $9,864,750 in earnings. According to Micah Adams of Sporting News on Twitter, that’s already more than the average amount the last five PGA Tour money winners made the entire season.
LIV Golf has gifted Jon Rahm an extra $3.3 million in 2023
If Rahm’s early-season winnings seem unprecedented, that’s because they are. Rahm’s highest-earning season before this year came in 2020-21 when he banked $7.7 million in 22 starts. He’s already surpassed that total in just six starts this season.
The three wins obviously help, but Rahm wouldn’t have nearly $10 million in the bank this season if not for LIV Golf.
You see, in an effort to combat LIV’s gargantuan signing bonuses and purses, the PGA Tour created 17 elevated events (including majors) that will feature larger purses than we’ve ever seen. Most of them were set at $20 million.
Rahm has already won two elevated events this year — the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Genesis Invitational. He banked $2.7 million at the Sentry and $3.6 million at the Genesis, both of which were record payouts at those specific tournaments.
According to Micah Adams of Sporting News, Rahm would’ve earned just $6.5 million if he recorded the exact same six-event start last year. Instead, he’s up to $9.8 million this season, and that extra $3.3 million is all thanks to LIV Golf.
