PGA Tour star apologises to Jon Rahm and tells LIV Golf ace 'you're not Cristiano Ronaldo'

PGA Tour star Erik van Rooyen has delivered a brutal blow to, telling the Spanish golfer he's no . Van Rooyen recently made waves with his performance at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson - one of this season's eight PGA Tour Signature Events - where he came second to two-time Masters champion .

The South African ace didn't hold back his disappointment with the exclusivity of the Signature Events, despite pocketing a cool £747,000 ($1million) for his efforts.

The golfer was candid about his feelings towards the eligibility criteria in place for participants, saying: "How honest do you want me to be? I hate it. I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them.

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"The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It's so deep. I get that you've got the Scotties of the , the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it's entertaining.

"Like the PGA Championship coming up, for example, I think it's the strongest field in the game, similar to The Players. I love competing, so selfishly I want to compete against those guys."

The golfing world has been abuzz with the cash controversy ever since the PGA Tour and LIV started locking horns, and Van Rooyen hasn't shied away from voicing his thoughts on player earnings, reports .

The 35-year-old used Rahm as a case in point, who is said to have inked a whopping £261m ($350M) deal with LIV for 2023.

Van Rooyen didn't mince words when comparing the golfer's pay to that of the Portuguese football icon, who clinched a $200m-a-year annual contract with Al Nassr after leaving earlier that year.

Van Rooyen didn't hold back, saying: "I think this idea that we're worth what soccer players are worth is completely mind-blowing.

"I'm sorry, Jon Rahm, you're a fantastic player, but you're not worth the zeroes they gave you. You're not worth more than what Cristiano Ronaldo is making. I'm sorry, we don't have the following.

"We're not the NBA. We're not the . I get there are a handful of really famous and really good golfers. How many of them have won tournaments so far this year?"