Jon Rahm has a decision to make and he needs to do so quickly. How much does he want to play in next year’s Ryder Cup?
The answer might be provided by the entry list for the Spanish Open, which closes a week Thursday. If the two-time major winner is not down to play in Madrid then it becomes increasingly difficult to see how he will be eligible for the match in Bethpage.
Unless he fulfils the minimum quota of four events required to remain a DP World Tour member, then never mind qualifying for the team by right, as he has done for his three Europe appearances to date, Luke Donald would not even be able to pick him as one of his six wild cards.
Rahm would be unavailable and Europe’s hopes of winning on United States soil for the first time in 13 years at a venue that may turn out to be the most hostile in the near-100-year history of the event, would suffer a huge blow.
Inevitably, there would be charges of self-sabotage levelled at Wentworth HQ and it would be accused of ignoring Rory McIlroy, who in the wake of Rahm’s £450 million defection to LIV Golf late last year, declared that the DP World Tour must change the regulations to ensure the Spaniard is there in Long Island.
Imagine that, the detractors would say. Petty golf rules winning the day over sanity. And no doubt Rahm would warble how much he wanted to play again in the blue and gold, how the Ryder Cup is in his Latin blood.
But that would be wildly unfair to the Tour and ridiculously generous to Rahm. If he is absent from Donald’s dozen in 12 months, there will be one person to blame and one person only — Jon Rahm.
McIlroy was not to know it at the time, but it was unnecessary to rip up in the membership rulebook to accommodate Rahm. With a fine toothcomb, it was discovered that the present regulations allow for the rebels to stay eligible. Just pay the fines and work around the bans and turn up to four events. Simple enough.
In fact, Tyrrell Hatton, Rahm’s partner in Rome last year, has highlighted in the past few weeks that he could even put the fines on pause, by appealing against their severity.
The DP World Tour has allowed the Englishman to tee it up regardless and, after competing at the Belfry in the British Masters last week, he is within one event from satisfying the regulations.
Adrian Meronk, the Pole who also jumped ship this year, has already managed to get in his four. Even Chilean Joaquin Niemann, with no interest in the Ryder Cup, has managed it, so the question must be asked why Rahm has not and why has he allowed this alarming scenario to develop? Outside of the majors and the LIV events, the Tour has staged 18 tournaments so far this season. Why has he not played even one of those?
Rahm did suffer an injury that caused him to miss the US Open in June and he may cite that as a factor, but if he is determined to represent his continent there is still a path left open. Because the Olympics counts as one, which is silly in itself, he has three to go. The Dunhill Links is the week after Spain and then there are the Andalucia Masters, the French Open and the Genesis Championship in South Korea.
There follows the Tour’s play-offs, the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship, but as it stands, down in 112th in the rankings, courtesy of coming seventh at the Open, Rahm is not qualified for either.
If the plan is to sneak in his quartet in the shadow of the finishing line, he is playing a dangerous game, especially as he may have to serve a week’s ban or two for playing in the final couple of LIV events later this month. That is why next week’s deadline for Spain on Sept 26-29 seems so crucial.
Maybe, Rahm is counting on the negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund – which bankrolls LIV – finally reaching a resolution and all the barriers being dismantled.
Or maybe he truly believes that Europe would not dare to enter the bearpit without him and that the powers that be will find a loophole.
Yet by the sound of Donald last week, he is adamant the rules will not be altered for one player who, insiders claim, is “digging in his heels”.
“I’ve had many conversations with Jon,” Donald said. “He absolutely knows what the deal is. He knew when he signed for LIV what the policies were on the DP World Tour. You have to play your four.
“Per all the policies, he can pay the fines or he can appeal like some of the guys have, and that gives him the opportunity to do that. It’s really up to him to do that and become eligible. He certainly mentioned at the [US] PGA Championship he was willing to do whatever it took to commit to me and the team. I hope that happens.”
So there you have it, Rahm is “willing to do whatever it takes” to play for Europe. Only one last thing needs saying – go on then, prove it.
