'I Don't Do This For The Money' - Rahm Pledges Allegiance To PGA Tour

The talk of the Saudi Golf League has dominated proceedings over the last few weeks. However, in an interview at the Genesis Invitational on Wednesday, world number one, Jon Rahm, made his feelings clear, stating that: "I take this time to say that this is my official, my one and only time I'll talk about this where I am officially declaring, let's say, my affiliation to the PGA Tour."

So far, we do know that the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Collin Morikawa have publicly backed their support for the PGA Tour, with Rahm also among those star players to pledge their allegiance to the Tour.

"I'm a PAC ( Player Advisory Council) member and I have a lot of belief in Jay Monahan and the product that they're going to give us in the future," said the US Open champion. "There has been a lot of talk and speculation on the Saudi League. It's just not something I believe is the best for me and my future in golf, and I think the best legacy I can accomplish will be with the PGA Tour.

"I've said it many times in press conferences before, I don't do this for the money, which to me is the only appeal to go over there. They throw numbers at you and that's supposed to impress people. I'm in this game for the love of golf and the love of the game and to become a champion, right? I grew up watching many great players play great events such as this one and there's history and legacy to those things. That's something that has a lot of appeal to me.

"You know, you hear all those things that are going on. Like oh, some players might have signed some NDA, some players might have signed and committed. I'm somebody who's kind of stayed away from it on purpose, and some of the things I heard and rumours coming from Saudi, I thought there would be a pretty good week, especially yesterday we had our first PAC meeting. Being a PAC member, I thought, you know, I'm in a situation where it's almost a little bit of my duty to make my stand in this instance."

Despite the criticism, Rahm believes that: "Everybody's free to make their own choice". However: "From somebody young like myself who has his entire future ahead of him, it doesn't seem like a smart thing. Again, the only appeal I see is monetary, right? So like I said just earlier on, I think there's a lot more to be able to play for besides just money on the PGA Tour. There's history, there's legacy. At the end of the day, I'm in this to win tournaments, I'm in this to play against the best in the world. Yeah, that has a lot of value to it.

"I made it very clear to my management team to don't even bother me with it until this was something that was maybe real and it never came back. The only things I ever heard were from players. To me, again, the only thing they have is, oh, you get -- you hear, oh, Bryson got $135 million, this person got $100 million.

"I already made more money in my life than I ever thought I was going to make, so that's not the appealing part to me, right? Week in and week out over here you're playing against the best players in the world. I don't think the PGA Tour's a bad product and it's only going to get better."

Over the past week, we have heard that a number of players like Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwood have signed non-disclosure agreements, with a report in the Daily Mail, stating that the Saudis are luring golf's leading stars by offering shares of a gigantic £1.5 billion pot, with five 'future Ryder Cup captains' allegedly sitting on £20 million signing-on proposals. 

Just recently, in a tweet by Alan Shipnuck, it was revealed that a possible announcement about the rumoured SGL is set to take place the week of The Players Championship, which is the PGA Tour's flagship event.

For a number of the world's elite though, it seems that the thought of money doesn't appeal one bit, with a number of the world's top-10 choosing the PGA Tour over the breakaway Saudi Golf League.