Golf Central analyst Arron Oberholser had some strong words for Jon Rahm ahead of this week’s PGA Championship.
Rahm, who bolted for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf in December, spoke on Tuesday about his fraught relationship with the PGA Tour, setting Oberholser off in the process.
“You guys keep saying ‘the other side,’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not,” Rahm told reporters. “I still want to support the PGA Tour and I think that’s an important distinction to make […] I don’t feel like I’m on the other side. I’m just not playing there. That’s at least personally.”
Oberholser, a PGA Tour golfer himself, took exception during a live reaction to the presser.
“I want to wring his neck through the television,” he said. “I’m that mad right now.
“He doesn’t get it. To this day, he doesn’t get it. This is a guy who wanted a position or wanted to be heard, from what I understand, either a board position, [or] policy board. He wanted to be heard on this whole thing before he went to LIV. And I feel like he wasn’t as heard as much as he probably should have been. And now, I’m glad he wasn’t in that position because he doesn’t get it.
“[…] As a PGA Tour player and as a PGA Tour member, still a card-carrying PGA Tour member and someone who supports the PGA Tour, [I’m] not happy with what’s going on right now obviously, I’m incensed by the level of naivety. […] You’re going to sit there and tell me you still feel like a PGA Tour member, I want to support the PGA Tour […] I wanted to wring his neck through the television. I’m that mad right now. I’m that mad.”
Rahm, a two-time major winner who ranked No. 3 in the world when he left the Tour, has appeared bothered by drama surrounding the rebel golf league in recent months.
The 29-year-old Spaniard signed a reported multi-year deal worth up to $500 million with LIV after previously being adamant about his allegiance to the Tour.
“It’s one of the reasons, I’m not going to lie to you,” Rahm said of the big payday from his LIV deflection. “It was a great offer. The money is great. Obviously, it’s wonderful. But what I said before is true: I do not play golf for the money. I play for the love of the game and the love of golf.
“But, as a husband, as a father and as a family man, I have a duty to my family to give them the best opportunities and the most amount of resources possible and that is where that comes in.’’