Jon Rahm keeping his focus on golf more than LIV's future

Sport

Jon Rahm keeping his focus on golf more than LIV's future

2026-04-17 20:17 Last Updated At：20:20

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Jon Rahm says he had no trouble moving forward inside the ropes amid uncertainty surrounding the future of LIV Golf.

“For me, it didn't make sense to think about it or waste time thinking about,” Rahm said Thursday after opening with seven birdies in his round of 6-under 65 at LIV Golf Mexico, leaving him three shots behind Victor Perez of France at Chapultepec Golf Club.

“Since everything happened so suddenly and so quickly, I wasn’t very worried about it because normally, before the rumors start, we already know something — there’s always someone within the league who knows something,” he said. “It happened so fast that I really didn’t worry about it.”

Speculation was running rampant on Wednesday the main source of funding — Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund — was on the verge of drying up. The LIV chief executive, Scott O'Neil, sent a memo to staff the 2026 season would proceed without interruption and at “full throttle.”

Questions remained whether that would last beyond the end of the year.

There was a power outage at the course on Tuesday, fueling speculation about the league's future. And then the streaming of the first round went out for about two hours.

O'Neil sat down with LIV's broadcast team and remained bullish about the future.

“Given the momentum of this business, we’re really excited about where we are and the position where we are,” O'Neil said.

He said he met with 50 people at the Masters and rolled out a plan that “might surprise people.” LIV Golf has said some of its metrics such as ticket sales and team sponsorships have increased, and O'Neil is projecting 10 of the 13 teams and four of the 14 events will be profitable.

But there is a substantial cost involved with prize funds ($30 million for each tournament) and operations. The newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf already had spent $5.3 billion and was projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of the year.

“This notion of bringing teams to market, I had two calls this morning,” O'Neil said on the LIV broadcast. “This notion of, ‘Do you have to raise money?’ Probably this is business. But if we keep the trajectory going the way we are and the revenue growth going, this is going to be a really good business for a really long time.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Ford recalls 1.4 million F-150 pickup trucks to fix a gearshift issue

Ford is recalling almost 1.4 million of its F-150 pickup trucks in the U.S. because of a gearshift issue that may lead to the loss of control of vehicles and increasing the risk of a crash.

The automaker is aware of two injuries and one accident possibly related to the issue.

The recall includes F-150 light trucks with a six-speed automatic transmission that were produced between March 12, 2014 an Aug 18, 2017.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's safety recall report says that some of the pickup trucks may experience an intermittent selection signal of the transmission range sensor to the powertrain control module, which may lead to a temporary, unintended downshift into second gear. This may cause an abrupt reduction in wheel speed for a short period of time, which in some situations could cause the rear tires to slide until the vehicle speed slows.

Ford is aware of 444 warranty claims and 105 customer service reports that could be linked to the issue as of early this month.

Vehicle owners will be notified about the recall by mail and instructed to bring their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have their powertrain control module calibration updated at no cost.