Jon Rahm and Greg Norman confirm LIV Golf 'open' to huge (!) change

Jon Rahm and Greg Norman have confirmed the breakaway LIV Golf League could potentially change to a 72-hole format.

Rahm and Norman faced the media ahead of LIV's sixth event of 2024 in Adelaide. 

Predominantly, Norman spoke at length about the simply wild Rory McIlroy rumours that sparked a media frenzy post-Masters.

Norman asked: "If Rory was willing to sit down and have a conversation with us, would we be happy to sit down with him?

"100 per cent, no different than any other player who would be interested in coming on and playing with us."

And The Great White Shark also revealed his trepidation about walking the fairways at Augusta National.

"My first hour walking around, I went, 'Whew', and I just relaxed and had a great time," he said. 

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But what about the future? It is clear that one of LIV's strengths is their willingness to adapt and try new concepts. 

The concept for LIV Golf was - and is - golf but louder. Shorter tournaments played over 54 holes to try and bring in new audiences.

Whether that is working remains to be seen. 

The aforementioned Rahm complained about the format before attempting to defend the green jacket earlier in the month. 

His comments were interesting to say the least, given that he was reportedly paid half a billion dollars to join LIV.

Now, Rahm contends that switching back to 72 will encourage golf fans to 'trust' LIV. 

"I think there's a level of comfort when I say that because it's a little bit more of what we're used to seeing in golf," he said. 

"I came to this realization, and I think it could help a lot of fans' trust in LIV a little bit more because that's a lot of the complaints that I see from a lot of people, but I made the analogy a little bit ago of why I think we can end up with a great product. 

"In football, European football, you have the Premier League, you have the Spanish League, you have the German League, you have Serie A, you have the Champions League, the Euro Cup, many other things. 

"The one thing I realized is they all play under the same set of rules. While we play under most set of rules, the one key difference is 72 holes."

He continued: "The only sport that I see that does it a little bit different to where they play pretty much the same and then the grand slams are different is tennis. 

"Even within them, every tournament or every championship sat same set of rules. That's one of the main reasons why I believe it could help us.

"But at the end of the day, LIV is a business. If it doesn't fit the product, it doesn't fit the product. I'm just a player. 

"There's a lot of people that are a lot smarter than me that can figure it out and explain why they believe 54 holes may be better for them.

"I can tell you from player experience, and I tell the people that give me that argument, if you come watch an event, you forget by Sunday that you've only played three rounds. 

"It makes no difference. You're competing to win. You win or you don't win. 

"By the end of the day, if I told you, oh, it was 54 holes, you really don't think about it because you're just immersed in the competition, and the competition is the same. 

"You won going down the stretch with a one- or two-shot lead or one- or two-shot deficit, the feelings are all the same. That would be also my counter argument to that. If you haven't experienced it and haven't given it a chance, it's not fair to judge without knowing."

Norman said Rahm 'hit the nail on the head' and admitted LIV was open-minded about changing. 

"It's a great conversation to have," he said. "We will continue to have that conversation going forward."

"We all want to see this resolved"

Elsewhere, Rahm took the time to offer his thoughts on the latest developments between the PGA Tour and LIV's backers. 

Both tours are still attempting to ratify last June's framework agreement. 

But it appears that talks have stalled, prompting Rory McIlroy to return to the policy board to try and break the impasse. 

Rahm said: "The people that are very smart and are behind this are trying to figure out what's the best for golf. 

"But I haven't spoken to enough players on the PGA Tour to know what their position is, to be honest. 

"I don't know if it's impatience or just lack of knowledge in general.

"But I think we all want to see this resolved. We all want to see this resolved. 

"Like I've said many times, we have the opportunity to take golf to the next level in the global markets, and I think if done properly we can come up with a better product for anybody, and putting golf as a bigger product in general as a worldwide sport."

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