NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — In April 2024, Jon Rahm sat at the dais at Augusta National, months removed from a decision that seemed to be a defining moment of pro golf’s fractured era, and explained how he went from one of the PGA Tour’s most loyal soldiers to LIV Golf’s biggest prize. It was a move that breathed life into the breakaway league at a time when, post-framework agreement, it seemed to be on the ropes. The two sides had been calcified for over a year; there had been no major defections and the stunning June 6 announcement seemed to signal that unification was somewhere on the horizon.
Then, Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, donned a LIV letterman’s jacket and resuscitated golf’s civil conflict. Months later, Rahm arrived at Augusta as the defending champion and said he hoped his seismic move would be the final one in the great golf chess game — one that ended golf’s fracture.
“I understood my position, yes. And I understood that it could be, what I hoped, a step towards some kind of agreement,” Rahm said that day at the 2024 Masters. “Or more of an agreement or expedited agreement.”…