Report: LIV Rejected Jon Rahm's 'Prohibitively Large' Asking Price

Jon Rahm was among 15 PGA Tour players approached by LIV Golf about joining their organisation this year - but the signing fee quoted for him was "prohibitively large" even for them, according to Eddie Pepperell.

Phil Mickelson has recently said that a wave of new PGA Tour pros will be crossing the divide and joining LIV for next season, and everyone has been playing the guessing game of who they could be.

Speaking on The Chipping Forecast podcast, Pepperell says he had heard 15 players had been approached by LIV about what it would take to get them to move.

But the response from World No.3 Rahm was far too big, even for the deepest of Saudi Arabian pockets to accept. 

“I heard that Jon Rahm....I heard that LIV had approached 15 players this year asking them for a rough figure as to what would get them across and I was told that Rahm’s figure was so prohibitively large that LIV rejected it. So, make of that what you want," Pepperell said on the Chipping Forecast podcast.

Rahm has always been an interesting figure in the great LIV debate, as he's consistently ruled out joining because he's already fully satisfied with his earnings and is chasing a golfing legacy more than money.

The Spaniard has always spoken of how lucky he is already to earn such a living from golf, but he's also been understanding of why players would cash in and join LIV - and been far from a big critic of the tour.

Pepperell is keen to point out that talk of players joining could all be part of the continued hearsay and "propaganda" being put out about - making it hard sometimes to know the facts.

“The other thing about the propaganda is I think it starts from the top," Pepperell continued. "I played with Michael Bloomberg at the Dunhill Links last year and first day we met we talked about LIV. 

"He said it wasn’t right that a PGA Tour player could keep his card and have to eat Burger King out of the back of his car because he’s not earning enough money, so I had to put him right.

"I said 'Michael that is complete rubbish, if you finish 100th on the PGA Tour and keep your card you are making $1m gross and probably clearing 500 grand gross after tax and costs, that is not somebody who had to eat Burger King out of the back of his car – lets be clear'.

"And he didn’t know that – he was just saying the information he’d been given.

"The rot, that is this propaganda, starts at the top. Yeah, it think they’ve got an issue – is Phil Mickelson is he the oracle or not? It's tough to know, but I think there’s a lot of c*** that gets spouted out there."

Pepperell had more on Mickelson and some of his more cryptic messages about LIV Golf - especially some on social media.

“It’s classic propaganda, making the truth difficult to know," said Pepperell.

“Phil had a comment on Twitter something like ‘LIV are playing chess and wait until you see move 32’ – and I thought that’s such a ridiculous comment. A, to believe you can see 31 moves in advance.

“Frankly, I just don’t know what he’s talking about and he just doesn’t make any sense to me these days as it relates to LIV.”