Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm rule out joining Premier Golf League

The Premier Golf League looks to be dead in the water after Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm both joined world No 1 Rory McIlroy in saying they wouldn't be joining the breakaway circuit.
Third-ranked Brooks Koepka has joined world No 1 Rory McIlroy in saying he won't be playing in the proposed Premier Golf League. Picture: Getty ImagesThird-ranked Brooks Koepka has joined world No 1 Rory McIlroy in saying he won't be playing in the proposed Premier Golf League. Picture: Getty Images
Third-ranked Brooks Koepka has joined world No 1 Rory McIlroy in saying he won't be playing in the proposed Premier Golf League. Picture: Getty Images

“I am out of the PGL. I’m going with the PGA Tour,” third-ranked Koepka told The Associated Press. “I have a hard time believing golf should be about just 48 players.”

The four-time major winner added of the circuit, which would guarantee big money to those taking part and also include a team format: “I get that the stars are what people come to see.

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“But these guys who we see win, who have been grinding for 10 or 15 years, that’s what makes the cool stories. I’d have a hard time looking at guys and putting them out of a job.”

European No 1 Jon Rahm has also said he won't be joining the proposed breakaway circuit, which includes a team format. Picture: Getty ImagesEuropean No 1 Jon Rahm has also said he won't be joining the proposed breakaway circuit, which includes a team format. Picture: Getty Images
European No 1 Jon Rahm has also said he won't be joining the proposed breakaway circuit, which includes a team format. Picture: Getty Images

Koepka used the Challenge Tour in Europe to kickstart his career, winning the Scottish Hydro Challenge at Macdonald Spey Valley in Aviemore in 2013.

That success earned him an automatic step up to the European Tour, where he won the Turkish Airlines Open in 2014 before claiming his first PGA Tour triumph the following year.

“I don’t forget where I’ve come from,” said the 29-year-old. “There are guys from that top 125 who could be the next star.”

The PGA Tour recently announced a media rights deal said to be worth a little more than $7 billion over the next nine years, with commissioner Jay Monahan saying The Players Championship prize pot could rise to $25 million and the end-of-season bonus pool topping $100 million.

Money isn’t going to change my life,” insisted Koepka. “There’s something to be said about freedom of playing. I get to chose. To me, it’s not worth it. I’m happy with how things are.

"When life is good - and it’s real good - you don’t want to change it. I think the PGA Tour is run beautifully. I plan on playing the PGA Tour for the rest of my life."

World No 2 Rahm, meanwhile, told Golfweek that he will not join the proposed Premier Golf League.

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“I think what I’m going to do is focus on just the PGA Tour,” said the Spaniard, who won the Race to Dubai on the European Tour last season.

“At the end of the day I’m a competitor. I’m a PGA Tour member and I’m going to stay that way.”

Last month McIlroy became the first player to rule out playing on the breakaway circuit, saying that he “wants to be on the right side of history on this one.”

The four-time major winner also said he that he didn’t like where the money was coming from, reference to the fact the proposed league is partly financed by the investment arm of the Saudi Arabian government.

Organisers of the league are targeting a 2022 start date at the earliest.