"Good for him" Jon Rahm hits back at Phil Mickelson over major claims
Jon Rahm disagrees with Phil Mickelson over his claims that LIV Golf players are fresher for the majors this season.
Jon Rahm hit back at Phil Mickelson's claims that LIV Golf League players are fresher for the majors when speaking to the media ahead of this week's Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour.
Rahm, who is one of our five picks on GolfMagic Fantasy at Muirfield Village this week, disagrees with Mickelson's recent tweet that those on LIV Golf are in much better condition to contend in the four major championships as a result of their schedule.
Related: Jon Rahm is FUMING Sergio Garcia has been FORCED OUT of the Ryder Cup!
Love LIV or hate it, it’s the best way/Tour to be your best in the majors. Enough events to keep you sharp, fresh and ready, yet not be worn down from too many tournaments or obligations. 14 LIV events, 34 weeks left open to prepare for the 4 majors. Fact.
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) May 23, 2023
Last week, Mickelson said:
Mickelson wrote that tweet two days after LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka won his third US PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
To provide some context to Mickelson's tweet, Rahm (who finished T50 at the US PGA) had played in 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2023 prior to the second major of the season as a result of the PGA Tour's new designated events structure.
Those on LIV Golf had played six.
Here's how all 16 LIV Golf players got on at the US PGA
Rahm, who won the first major of the season at The Masters, was pressed on Lefty's latest comments ahead of competing on the PGA Tour this week where he goes in search of a second Memorial title:
GolfMagic Editor @AndyRobertsGolf believes Patrick Cantlay is the man to beat at the Memorial Tournament this week:
https://t.co/F5IQ2wSHog— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) May 30, 2023
In total, there are 17 designated events (including the four majors) on the PGA Tour.
As Rahm mentions in his quotes above, he intends to play 19 official events during the course of his season.
On LIV Golf, there are 14 events in total but these events are spaced out much more than on the PGA Tour with tournaments running from February through to November.
The PGA Tour season ends in August.
LIV Golf Schedule | PGA Tour Schedule
Read more: https://t.co/lJPzFX1KKb
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) May 26, 2023
LIV Golf players eligible to compete in the majors (such as Koepka, Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson) then have those on top, taking them to a maximum of 18 events during the season.
All of the biggest-named PGA Tour players are permitted to bypass one of the designated events in order to collect their allocated Player Impact Program (PIP) money.
Rory McIlroy was penalised $3m as a result of skipping two designated events already this season.
Andy first joined the brand on a month's work experience back in April 2011, and he now assumes the Editor role. When Andy joined GolfMagic it was a small site with potential.
