SI:AM | Jon Rahm’s Defection Throws a Wrench in Saudi–PGA Tour Agreement

Plus, the NBA in-season tournament title game is set.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I have to confess, I was so disinterested in the Steelers-Patriots game last night that I completely forgot about it until I saw the final score.

In today’s SI:AM:

🤑 Jon Rahm’s shocking move

🎰 Pacers and Lakers prevail in Las Vegas

🤠 ​​Dak Prescott’s MVP turn

LIV Golf is back with a vengeance

If you thought the battle between the Saudi-backed LIV Golf and the PGA Tour ended with the agreement the two sides made back in June, think again.

Yesterday, Jon Rahm, the No. 3 player in the Official World Golf Ranking and the winner of this year’s Masters, announced that he is leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV. (His contract is reportedly worth anywhere from $300 million to $500 million.) Though the move had been rumored for weeks, the announcement was a stunning development that has wide-ranging implications for the futures of the rival tours.

In June, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV, and the PGA Tour announced that they had reached an agreement “to unify the game of golf, on a global basis.” There were plenty of details to be ironed out, of course, but the announcement of the framework agreement seemed as though it would put an end to the competition between LIV and the Tour.

So what happened? One issue is that the agreement was announced when it was in the early stages of being negotiated. Michael Rosenberg spoke to some lawyers with merger and acquisition experience who pointed out how unusual it was that the PGA and PIF announced their agreement without an exclusivity window for negotiations:

Attorneys pointed out that in most mergers and acquisitions, the deal does not become public until it is close to finalized, with most details agreed upon. The Tour and LIV announced their plans publicly early in the process because the Tour needed players to digest the news and then help shape the final agreement.

Negotiations to finalize their agreement have dragged on as the Dec. 31 deadline to complete the deal looms, and the Rahm news raises questions about whether the Saudis think a deal can be reached. Why throw so much money at Rahm if you’re going to merge with the Tour in a matter of weeks?

If you’re confused, consider how PGA Tour players must feel about the news. Many of them turned down rich offers from LIV with the understanding that their loyalty to the Tour would pay off in the long run. When the framework agreement was announced in June and positioned as the PIF investing in the Tour (not the Tour being absorbed by LIV), it looked like those who turned down LIV money would be rewarded for their loyalty. But now LIV has fired another shot across the bow. It now employs three of the last five major winners, and its massive investment in Rahm is an indication that it’s prepared to continue poaching Tour players.

The challenge for the Tour now is keeping its players unified. What the Tour needs is a serious infusion of cash to combat the massive sums of money that LIV is throwing around. Back in June, it seemed like that money would come from the PIF. While it’s still possible that the original agreement can be finalized, the Tour may have to turn to other investors to fund its various efforts to increase prize money while competing with LIV. The future of professional golf hangs in the balance.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Tyrese Haliburton powered the Pacers to victory in the in-season tournament.  / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

• Here is another plug for Michael Rosenberg’s excellent story about Jon Rahm’s jump to LIV Golf and why the future of the PGA Tour is at a tipping point.
• The Lakers and Pacers will play in the championship game of the NBA’s in-season tournament. Rohan Nadkarni has five takeaways from last night’s semifinal games.
• The tournament games in Las Vegas are a reminder that an NBA expansion franchise in the city seems inevitable, Chris Mannix writes.
• Last night’s Patriots-Steelers game was a slog, but Conor Orr found something endearing about a game marked by offensive incompetence.
• As Dak Prescott emerges as an MVP candidate, Greg Bishop argues that the Cowboys’ quarterback is finally getting recognized for how good he’s always been.
• Kevin Sweeney breaks down a loaded slate of men’s college basketball games this weekend.
• Bills coach Sean McDermott acknowledged he made a tasteless reference to the Sept. 11 terror attacks in a team meeting.
• Bronny James is set to make his college debut this weekend.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Adam Fantilli’s between-the-legs pass on a zone entry that led to his goal.

4. Joseph Woll’s impressive glove save after his bad pass led to a Senators scoring chance.

3. TNT’s Inside the NBA guys appearing on ESPN before the IST semifinals.

2. Three straight treys for LeBron James in the Lakers’ win.

1. Tyrese Haliburton’s “Dame Time” celebration after a clutch three against Damian Lillard and the Bucks.

SIQ

On this day in 1959, Atlanta was awarded a professional franchise in which sport, although it would never play a single game?

• Football
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Hockey

Yesterday’s SIQ: On Dec. 7 in which year were fans at three NFL games left confused by messages from PA announcers requesting that various government officials call their offices?

• 1929
• 1941
• 1968
• 1991

Answer: 1941. The three scheduled games were already underway as news broke of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but fans in New York, Washington and Chicago weren’t told about the bombing. No announcement was made informing spectators of what had happened, but fans suspected something was wrong when they repeated unusual messages from the public address system. Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich wrote down a few examples of what fans at Washington’s game against the Eagles heard:

“Admiral W.H.P. Bland is asked to report to his office at once!”

“The resident commissioner of the Philippines, Mr. Joaquim Eilzalde, is urged to report to his office immediately!”

“Joseph Umglumph of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is requested to report to the FBI office at once.”

“Capt. R.X. Fenn of the United States Army is asked to report to his office at once.”

Washington owner George Preston Marshall said he chose not to have an announcement made because he “didn't want to divert the fans’ attention from the game.”

No announcement was made at the Bears-Cardinals game in Chicago, either. One fan who attended that game told the Chicago Tribune that he didn’t learn of the bombing until he saw newsboys hawking papers outside the stadium.

The story was the same at the Polo Grounds, where the Giants were playing the Brooklyn Dodgers. Twenty-five years later, Frank Graham Jr. wrote a piece in SI about what it was like to be in the stadium that day.