Jon Rahm is determined to plot a path to the 2025 Ryder Cup despite his mounting fines and suspensions, but there could be a child-like obstacle in the way…
LIV Golf star Jon Rahm has reaffirmed his commitment to do whatever it takes to make the European Ryder Cup in 2025. Following his big-money move to the Saudi-funded league earlier this year, alongside Tyrrell Hatton, there have been questions about whether the pair would be eligible to play next year’s edition of the biennial event between Europe and the USA. Players from the DP World Tour who joined LIV Golf have been given suspensions and fines which could stop them from playing in the four events in Europe this year required to maintain their membership and Team Europe eligibility. But new DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings has since revealed that if done right, Rahm and co. can plot their way around sanctions and play the required quota of tournaments. Team Europe captain Luke Donald has also told the pair that if they follow the rules for qualification, then they can both make the team. Rahm has tried to work out where he can play later in the year to appear at Bethpage in just under 18 months. “I just need to look into it. Obviously, I’ve wanted to play in Spain. I’ll need to talk to them about how we can figure it out so I can play some events,” Rahm explained. It isn’t just the golfing calendar that might scupper Rahm’s plans of playing in certain events on the DP World Tour this season either… His wife Kelley is currently pregnant with the couple’s third child, and the two-time major champion admits that being there for the birth of his child will be much more important than playing in any tournament. “Obviously Kelley’s due date what effect what tournaments I can and cannot play, so I think I’m waiting on that a little bit to then be able to form a schedule,” he said. “It does come to a point where I might need to play four events late in the year, but you know, can’t really get in the way of life in that sense, right, literally. I mean, it’s our third child so I wouldn’t miss that for the world, and if I have to play a little bit more in the fall, I will. “But based on that, I can’t really tell you yet what I’ll be playing. I don’t know. There are certain tournaments I would like to play but I will see if I can or not.” Rahm reiterated (again) that he would do whatever it takes to make sure he is on the European team at the Ryder Cup in 2025. He has become an integral part of the European team, with 7.5 points across his three appearances, including three points in the European victory at Marco Simone last year. “I said I would do whatever I can to get into that Ryder Cup team, and I made that commitment to Luke, and I want to be able to be a part of it. So again, the schedule’s going to be the hardest thing in that regard.”
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Jon Rahm: All parties will have to compromise
When asked about the future of golf, the Spaniard said that all the major parties involved, whether that be the sport’s traditional tours, associations or Public Investment Fund, will have to compromise. Talks seem to have slowed since the announcement of the Framework Agreement in June of last year. The PGA Tour and the PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that bankrolls LIV Golf, appear in a stalemate and in the meantime, the tour has found funding from a US-based sports consortium worth $3 billion. “I think at this point, PIF, PGA Tour, DP World Tour, maybe even some of the other governing bodies need to get together and see what that looks like,” Rahm added. “Because everybody is going to have a different idea, and I think everybody’s going to have to give something back or have some compromises to make that work, right? “We’ve heard Rory (McIlroy) mention a world tour where the best players in the world (are) playing together. Yeah, I would agree I would love to be able to see that. Like I said many times, we have the opportunity to put golf on a different level on the map and make it more global than ever, and I fully support that idea.”
The idea is there, but Rahm also knows that these things take time to come to fruition. The talk now is that a truce between the PGA Tour and the PIF won’t be ready until 2026. The 29-year-old believes that the more these things take time, the more likely that the best outcome is going to be reached. “I think this is – these would be some decisions and negotiations that can’t be taken lightly, so it should take quite a bit of time to get it done properly,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t want to see something rushed just to get a resolution and not be comfortable for everybody just pushing the issues down the road, right. So since I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors I really can’t tell you, but I think they should take their time to make this work properly. “I don’t know if that takes one, two, three, five, six years. I don’t know what that might be like. But I don’t feel like I’m on any rush to make something happen today. “I think we have a position to set up golf in a very positive way for decades to come, and you need the people that do this for a living that are far smarter than I am to get together to come together to be able to make it work.”
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