Rahm calls for joint Ryder Cup decision on LIV rebels
Jon Rahm tees off on the third hole during the third round at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. on Saturday, June 18, 2022. (Robert Beck/USGA)
Jon Rahm hopes the power brokers on both sides of the Atlantic will make a joint decision on allowing LIV Golf rebels to tee it up in this year's Ryder Cup in Rome.
But the big Basque admits that if the likes of Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey are ruled ineligible by the DP World Tour, it will give Europe's young guns a chance to help Luke Donald win back the trophy next September.
"Listen, there's some people that are going to have to make some tough choices, right?" Rahm said ahead of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, where he was pipped by LIV Golf defector Cameron Smith 12 months ago.
"A little bit of that is out of my reach. My guess is I hope the PGA of America and European Tour make a decision together. I don't think it would be smart to have one team allowing LIV players and one not to.
"And besides that, even if they decide not to on that side, I think it's going to give an opportunity for a lot of great young players to show up and have the chance in Europe, right?
"It's just going to be an opportunity for all of them. We saw a younger US team last Ryder Cup and they did what they did.
"So I'm hoping these younger guys who have grown up watching the Ryder Cup and seeing their idols do what they do, let's say, it energises the team a little bit in any manner and we show up there to win."
While the LIV Golf Tour has announced just seven events of its proposed 14-event schedule for 2023, the eligibility of former Ryder Cup players such as Westwood, Stenson, Casey, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter for Ryder Cup duties will not be decided until an arbitration hearing, presided over by Sport Resolutions UK, takes place over five days early next month.
The case arose last July when an arbitration judge placed a stay on the suspensions of Poulter, Westwood, Garcia and McDowell, who were fined £100,000 (€113,000) and suspended for playing LIV events without a release from the DP World Tour.
In the end, 15 players contracted to LIV Golf teed it up in September's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, where Shane Lowry triumphed and took a not-so-subtle swipe at the LIV players when he described his victory as "a win for the good guys."
As it stands, Europe's leading points scorer, Garcia, is not eligible for the Ryder Cup as he didn't fulfil the minimum of four events to retain his DP World Tour card last year.
However, Europe's big stars and the captain appear to be divided on the LIV issue, with world number one Rory McIlroy firmly against allowing the rebels to play.
"I have said it once, I've said it a hundred times: I don't think any of those guys should be on the Ryder Cup team," McIlroy said last year.
US Open champion Fitzpatrick, who is also in action in Hawaii today, is leaning the other way for competitive reasons. "I just want to win the Ryder Cup," Fitzpatrick said. "I want the 11 best guys we can get. I'm not really too bothered about where they are going to come from."
Europe were thrashed 19-9 at Whistling Straits in 2021, and Donald, who took up the captaincy after Henrik Stenson was stripped of the honour after joining LIV Golf, has sat on the fence and opted for six picks to give himself wriggle room.
"We're still a little bit in limbo," Donald said. "We don't know what's going to happen with the lawsuit, so I'm trying to not really put too much energy into it. Once we get a clearer picture, I can give you better answers."
The absence of LIV players would be good news for Séamus Power, who goes off on the second group of the day today with Canada's Mackenzie Hughes at 7.35pm Irish time.
Rahm, who shot a career-low 33-under par last year and still lost out to Smith, is the hot favourite to win this year, but FedEx Cup leader Power fancies his chances of doing well again after finishing 15th on his debut last year and loving the experience.
"I don't know if this is the right word, but there was a feeling of being 'allowed' to play it," he said of the limited field. "It's just unbelievable. It's just that sense of accomplishment. Just qualifying for it and just being there."
