The Professional Golfers’ Association of America has put World No. 3 and LIV Golf’s richest transferee Jon Rahm under suspension starting next season.
In an offshoot to his signing a reported $600 million with the Saudi-backed league, the move is expected to affect several other players in the PGA.
The suspension is in line with the PGA’s ruling that “ensure that suspended members do not negatively impact other players’ tournament eligibility, position on the Priority Rankings or eligibility to compete in the Playoffs and Signature Events.”
As a consequence, all his four titles in the 2022-2023 overlapping season will not count in the points list for eligibility consideration for 2024 season.
But it’s unlikely to affect the Spaniard who is reportedly getting a team of his own in the LIV League starting next year with several other players under him.
Because Rahm is taken off the list, it moved up Mackenzie Hughes of Canada from No. 51 to No. 50 in the world, making him eligible for the eight signature events in the 2024 season that have a cumulative cash prize of $20 million.
Another lucky recipient is Alex Smalley who advanced to No. 60 that would allow him to play in two early signature events namely the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational at Riviera.