SHANE LOWRY SAYS he wasn’t surprised by Jon Rahm’s seismic decision to leave the PGA Tour for the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.
Despite proclaiming his “fealty” to the PGA Tour last year, Masters champion Rahm this month defected to LIV in a deal worth a reported €520 million.
Speaking to the Irish media today, Lowry said he wasn’t surprised by the move because of the ambient rumours of Rahm’s switch and also because of the current state of professional golf, which has now lost its capacity for shock.
“There’s no smoke without fire so we all thought he must be going”, said Lowry at a media event to announce biotech firm Amgen as the title sponsor of the Irish Open.
“[I wasn't] surprised, as I am not surprised by anything at the minute. It is what it is now, it’s just mad to think we won’t be playing against Jon Rahm until the Masters. He won’t be rocking up to Riviera, Bay Hill, the Players, all the big tournaments on the PGA Tour. It’s just mad to think that. It is what it is. I am just hopeful it all irons itself out soon, and we will be back playing together again soon. I don’t know when that will be, but hopefully soon.”
The PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) – who bankroll LIV – announced a bombshell framework agreement in June of this year, unveiling an agreement that would see the tours merge into a new, single entity.
A deal has yet to be agreed between the parties, however, and the PGA Tour are now close to clinching an investment from a group of American investors. The PGA Tour say they will continue negotiations with PIF with a view to being involved as investors in the same deal.
The negotiations have left the landscape of professional golf in a very uncertain place, and Lowry says he it has reinforced to him the need to focus on himself.
“At the start it was dispiriting, but now – and I’ve talked about this a lot with my team - you just have to worry about yourself”, he said. “You just have to become that selfish golfer who picks their schedule and wants to play and win the best tournaments in the world. The best tournaments in my mind are Riviera, Bay Hill, the Players, and then leading up to the Masters. They are the tournaments I want to win, and you plan accordingly to try and win those events.
“I would say the attitude of the top players [has remained] similar. I’d say the attitudes of the [lower] ranking players probably changed a little bit. I think a lot of people were worried for where the Tour was going, and what their their jobs are gonna be like. The thing is, everyone’s worried about themselves. So everyone’s like in it for themselves.
“But I wouldn’t say the attitude of the top players has changed much really. Look at Viktor Hovland, he’d been rumoured heavily like, and if Jon Rahm gets that, what does he get? So the fact that he’s committed to PGA Tour, I think is great. Because there was rumours about him. So I think he still realises that the best tournaments in the world are on the PGA Tour. But like I said, I just, I’m just hopeful. And I do think it will be ironed out at some stage over the next while. I don’t know when, but hopefully soon.”
Asked whether he thought some players were cashing in on a move to LIV before the tours united, Lowry grinned. “Maybe.”
Hovland confirmed he is staying put in an interview this week, in which he also criticised the leadership of the PGA Tour as “arrogant”, claiming they are not acting in the best interests of the Tour’s players.
Asked for his view on Tour’s leadership, Lowry shied away from criticism.
“I make a great living doing what I do, playing the game I love for a living”, said Lowry. “I am not going to sit here and criticise the guys in charge of the game because I am very fortunate to have the life I have. Do I think they have been amazing? No, probably not, but I am not going to criticise them as they couldn’t foresee this coming. It’s something that happened. A lot of players have a lot of opinions on the leadership of the Tour but I don’t consider myself clever enough to be able to comment on running a billion-dollar organisation. I just worry about my own game.”
He did discuss his opinions on the game’s new equipment rollback, with plans now agreed to diminish the distance the ball can travel at all levels of the game by approximately 10 yards. It will be introduced from 2028.
While the ambition is to reduce a player’s length off the tee, Lowry cautioned against a commensurate increase in the time it takes to play a round of golf.
“I think as long as they don’t keep extending golf courses, it’ll be fine”, he said. “The one thing I’ve always said about it is they’re trying to make the game harder, make the ball go shorter, make the courses longer, but they’re always giving out about us playing slowly. So you can’t have you can have it both ways. Like if we play Augusta now with the rollback ball, it’s gonna take six hours to play a round of golf. So, what do you do there? That’s just how I feel about.
“I wasn’t in favour of it, because I just think golf through Covid became popular again. There’s growth in the game and people start playing again. Golf is a hard game, like. There’s about 200 players in the world that are really good at it, then it goes right down to your 18-handicappers. It’s a hard game to play. I think if you keep making it harder, people might stop playing. I mentioned about the courses and it taking longer to play golf, I think what we need to do is try and make it a shorter amount of time to play golf.
“I think that’s why people in their 30s stop playing golf, because they end up having kids and families. All of a sudden you’re not leaving to go and play golf for five hours on a Saturday because that’s your day off. I don’t really know what to think. At the end of the day, it’s not coming in until 2028, so we will probably be hitting it ten yards further then anyway. The ten yards with the rollback will just be the same as now. The manufacturers are so good that they will figure out something.”
Lowry will be back at the Irish Open next year, which is taking place at Royal County Down from 11 to 15 September. Amgen are the new title sponsors as they recently acquired Horizon, who signed a seven-year sponsorship agreement in 2022.
Lowry supports the event’s new September date.
“I’ve always thought the date we had in July wasn’t great”, he said. “I always thought if we could have it later on it would be better. Obviously the ideal date would be the week before the Open, but that’s not going to happen. If you get it back-to-back with Wentworth, two great weeks and a great time of year to play golf.
“I always feel the weather can be pretty good in August/September in Ireland. And it’s great Amgem have acquired Horizon and have continued on with their sponsorship, it says a lot about what the tournament has been like the last couple of years and how much they feel they can grow it, too. I think it has huge potential.”
