Knox Declares Pro Golf Landscape ‘Bit of a Joke’ But Backs Monahan & Praises McIlroy.

5 months ago by Comments Off on Knox Declares Pro Golf Landscape ‘Bit of a Joke’ But Backs Monahan & Praises McIlroy.

Scotland’s Russell Knox has labelled the present landscape the men’s pro golf a ‘bit of joke’ following on the latest news Joh Rahm has formally signed with LIV Golf.

Formal confirmation of Rahm’s reputed £550m deal is a massive boost for the Saudi-back league and now sees three of the last five major winners playing the rival LIV tour.

As well, we’ve had two of Rahm’s Rome Ryder Cup winning team-mates, firstly in Rory McIlroy sounding off at the DP World Tour that needs to act by changing its qualification rules so that LIV stars like of Ramn can be chosen in Luke Donald’s 2025 team that without him look like they’re on a hiding to nothing scenario at Bethpage Park in New York.

And there’s second of Rahm’s team-mates with Justin Rose remarking on the super Spaniard’s move to LIV saying: “Jon’s a huge coup for LIV, a big blow for the PGA Tour”.

 


In joining LIV, Rahm becomes the world’s highest-paid sportsman, dwarfing the earnings of Cristiano Ronaldo who also signed a mega deal with the Gulf state.

Rahm will also earn more than four times as much as Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi who have signed bumper contracts with Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami respectively.

Little wonder Knox, like so many, is shaking his head.

Knox said: “What’s now happening in golf is such a shame. It’s just looking bad right now. I wish they could all start again. Things would be done differently.

“It’s got to the stage where the whole landscape of golf right now is a bit of a joke. I was hoping Jon Rahm wasn’t going to LIV but who am I to give an opinion”.

It was just over six months ago Knox joined his fellow PGA Tour players at a hastily-held meeting two days ahead of the Canadian Open in Toronto when news of a proposed merger shook the golf world to its core.

Since then, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s name has been mud, with loud calls he’s better off standing down from a role that next month will mark seven years at the helm.

Knox said: “It was a bizarre feeling before the meeting and I remember the practice round hole I was on when I found out there was going to be some kind of merger.

“It was a weird day and looking back it could have been done all differently.

“We listened to Jay Monahan speak and we were all a bit bewildered. I know Jay personally, living here in Ponte Vedra, and he deserves to stick it out in my opinion.

“Whatever they decide in this merger meeting, Jay should get a chance to play it out. If it doesn’t work then maybe it would be time to move on but who knows”.

Eventual confirmation of Rahm’s signing also came just a day after golf ball manufacturers expressed their disgust with confirmation of 2028 commencing measures by golf’s joint ruling bodies to curb the distance the golf ball travels.

Knox said: It’s just a continuing crazy time. If you’d been frozen for a couple of years, then came back and looked around, you’d be like, ‘what do you mean there’s another tour who are paying people millions, what do you mean “about turning the ball back?’

“I’m for the roll back. I’m not sure why people are so against it. It won’t be a terrible thing”.

Knox currently has his own golfing concerns, having just fallen short in retaining full 2024 PGA Tour membership after one of his poorest seasons on record, and staring at preparing for next week’s four-round Final Qualifier, and just minutes from this residence, where he looks to regain his 2025 card.

However, the Scot singled out crestfallen McIlroy who had been the Tour’s seemingly unofficial ‘mouthpiece’ in all matters anti-LIV, well up until the shock June news, and who unceremoniously recently stood down from the Tour’s Players Advisory Committee.

Knox said: “I’ll never know what it was like for Rory but he did a great job being a spokesperson for the tour.

“I would’ve liked him to stay on the board but I can sympathise with how busy it’s been”.

McIlroy on Rahm’s move

McIlroy said: “I am going to miss competing against him week-in-week-out

“He is such a good player, he has so much talent. He is so tenacious, and a great teammate at the Ryder Cup. I have nothing but good things to say about Jon. I respect the hell out of him as a golfer.

“He seems like he wants to live his life the right way. He wants to be a good dad, a good husband. You can’t judge someone for making a decision that is the best thing for them.

“I would like to think the Ryder Cup means as much to them as it does to me. Maybe it does. But knowing what the consequences could be, I just could never make that decision. OK, it might not be 100 per cent certain but that it could be the outcome? It just isn’t a move I would be willing to make. I thought they felt the same way



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