“I think I could be the start of a tipping point” – Jon Rahm says his LIV move helped speed up the PGA Tour-PIF deal

Jon Rahm defected from the PGA Tour and joined LIV Golf in December. The Spaniard, who shocked the golf world with the move, has now come out to state that his decision might’ve helped speed up the PGA Tour-LIV Golf deal. The World No. 3 golfer commented while claiming that the proposed deal is closer than ever.

It is pertinent to note that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and other PGA policy board members, including Tiger Woods, met with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan last month. They reportedly made progress on the PGA Tour-PIF deal, which allegedly will unify the American circuit and LIV Golf.

Rahm, who is optimistic about the deal, has claimed that his move to LIV “could be the start of a tipping point” of the deal. He said that not many players had a “bigger impact” than him in the last year.

Speaking to BBC Sport about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf deal, Jon Rahm said:

“I think I could be the start of a tipping point, yeah. I understood the weight that that decision could have and the impact it could have. Yes. I understood that perfectly. That’s why it wasn’t such an easy decision…"

The balance of golf could be disturbed a little bit. Luckily in my career, especially last year, I accomplished a lot and I got to be one of the bigger names in golf. There are few active players that could have had a bigger impact than myself in that sense. Not to be patting myself on the back too much, but I understood the position I was in," he added.

Jon Rahm further admitted to being optimistic about the deal. He said that there are “definitely some discussions that haven’t been there in the past” between the two sides. He claimed that the two tours are “closer to some kind of unification than ever.”

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Jon Rahm calls for format change in LIV Golf

Jon Rahm, who is preparing to defend his title at the Masters this weekend, has now called for a format change in LIV Golf.

The Spaniard expressed a wish to see the breakaway tour move to the traditional 72-hole tournament format used on the PGA Tour. Notably, the series currently follows a 54-hole event, shotgun starts, and a no-cut format, which not many are fond of.

The Masters champion’s comments come amid reports of LIV’s unification with the PGA Tour. He opined that the Greg Norman-led series opting for the traditional format would help the deal in question. He even claimed that the unification of the two tours could “feed into a world tour or something like that.”