“Professional golf sold out to Manufacturers” – Fans unhappy as Jon Rahm makes strong remark after using a persimmon driver 

Jon Rahm is playing in the 2023 BMW PGA Championship. He is ranked T46 on the leaderboard after the end of the first round at the Wentworth Club in Surrey. In the opening round of the event on Thursday, he shot a round of 1 under 71 and his scorecard included three birdies and two bogeys.

The DP World Tour shared a video on X (formerly known as Twitter), which had the reigning Masters champion seen using his persimmon driver. Rahm said that he hit the ball at the center.

However, fans were clearly not happy with the Spaniard pointing out the ball in the "foreright" direction soon after hitting it.

A fan said that professional golf was sold out to the manufacturers and called it "dissimilar" to tennis. He added that both sports could not maintain the integrity of the game in accordance with technological advancement.

While there was another fan who claimed that it would have been impossible to hit straight with the old wound balata ball.

There was another fan who called Jon Rahm a "talentless player". He added that the golfer does not respect the past history of the game.

There were a few more comments on the DP World Tour's post. Here are some of the top ones:

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When will Jon Rahm resume the play at the 2023 BM PGA Championship in the second round?

The Spaniard will be back at the Wentworth Club, Surrey on Friday at 11:00 a.m. BST (or 6:00 a.m. ET). He is paired with Nicolai Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton for the second round.

During one of the pre-tournament press conferences, Jon Rahm said that he wanted to win the BMW PGA Championship for the first in his career. He has finished as runner-up twice in 2019 and 2022.

Rahm also spoke about the dynamics of the event and whether it would confirm a great performance in the 2023 Ryder Cup if they performed well at the Wentworth Club. He said via The Scotsman:

"Well, it's about as good of prep as you can get, right? It's a world-class stage. It's definitely a good week to perform well. Doesn't really mean anything towards The Ryder Cup. Playing good here doesn't mean you're going to perform well there."

He added that a win at the Wentworth would strengthen his chances in the end-of-the-season Race to Dubai. He is currently 2,400 points behind Rory McIlroy who is at the top of the rankings table.

Jon Rahm was also confident that the 2023 BMW PGA Championship would be a great tournament to test themselves before the upcoming Rome event, scheduled later in September.

The ongoing DP World Tour event features captain Luke Donald and all 12 members of the European Ryder Cup team.