BY PHIL CASEY
Masters champion Jon Rahm hopes golf can achieve “some type of union” as he set his sights on a Sunday showdown with his PGA Tour rivals at Augusta National.
The Tour’s six player-directors met with officials from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the Bahamas on Monday as efforts continue to make a deal to end golf’s civil war.
The PIF bankrolls the breakaway LIV Golf League, which Rahm joined in a stunning move in December, meaning the majors are now the only events which see all of the world’s top players competing against each other.
“I’ve been playing good golf, but I’m definitely looking forward to joining with the rest of the best golfers in the world and teeing it up in the Masters with them,” Rahm said in a teleconference ahead of the year’s first major from April 11-14.
“I’m assuming there will be quite a few that are not happy, but from my side nothing changes. I still respect everybody on both sides and respect the game of golf above all.
“I think there’s a way of co-existing and, if there’s some type of union, I don’t know what that looks like. I just want to see again the best in the world being able to compete against the best in the world, whatever that looks like.
“If there is some type of peace achieved I think it can actually push the game forward.”
Rahm has finished third, eighth, fifth and 14th in his four LIV events to date and will compete in Miami the week before his Masters title defence. On the PGA Tour last year, Rahm won three times in eight starts before claiming his second major title at Augusta.
“I feel like my game is in really good position,” he added. “I have not played my best yet, but I can see it every tournament getting a little bit better and getting to a point where I like where I’m at coming up to the Masters.
“I am looking forward to hopefully having a great week and a great Sunday back-nine showdown with some of those great players because at the end of the day it’s what golf and spectators deserve.
“With that said, I’m hoping I can cruise the last three holes with an eight or nine-shot lead and know I can walk up 18 knowing I can make a nine or a 10 and win it, but it would be really fun also to come down to the wire and make a birdie on 18 to win it.
“That would be quite incredible.”
Rahm used the teleconference to reveal the full details of his Champions Dinner menu, including a lentil stew made to his grandmother’s recipe by chef Jose Andres.
“He called my grandma for the recipe so if somebody doesn’t like it, please don’t tell me,” Rahm joked.
“Don’t tell anyone actually.”