ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Rory McIlroy says it's “a shame” Jon Rahm is the only LIV Golf player unwilling to accept the terms of a European tour deal to eliminate future fines, and he brushed off concerns the Spaniard might not be eligible for the Ryder Cup team.
“The Ryder Cup is bigger than any one person,” McIlroy said Wednesday.
Rahm's future in the matches was placed in doubt this week when he refused the terms of the European tour offer — pay previous fines for not getting a release to play LIV Golf events, drop any appeals and add two tournaments to the minimum four required for European tour membership.
Rahm said at LIV Golf Hong Kong on Tuesday that the DP World Tour, as it is known commercially, was “extorting players” by forcing them to play two additional tournaments. Rahm said if the deal was to pay fines, drop appeals and play the minimum four events, he would have signed.
“I just don’t like the situation,” Rahm said. “I think we should be able to freely play where we want and have the choice to play where we want and not be dictated what we do.”
Tyrrell Hatton and seven other Europeans who play for Saudi-funded LIV Golf agreed to the conditions. The European tour would help decide which tournaments to play in an effort to boost the tournaments on the schedule.
“In my opinion, it's a really generous deal,” McIlroy said, adding that it was “much softer” than what the PGA Tour required of Brooks Koepka to return.
Koepka had to pay $5 million to charity, was ineligible for PGA Tour equity shares for five years and did not have access to FedEx Cup bonus money this year. He also could not play in the $20 million signature events unless he qualified.
“The European tour can only do so much to accommodate these guys,” McIlroy said. “If you want to play on the Ryder Cup you have to be a member of the DP World Tour. ... You have to abide by the rules and regulations.”
He said those rules meant being subject to fines if players don't get a release to play LIV Golf events when the European tour has a tournament that week.
The European deal would end the fines for LIV Golf players.
“Look, there's a reason eight of the nine guys took that deal, right?” McIlroy said. “I think it’s a really good deal. Yeah, obviously Jon doesn’t think so, and he’s obviously well within his rights to think that way. But I just don’t see what more the European tour can do to accommodate these guys to retain their membership.”
As for the European tour having a say in which additional tournaments to play, McIlroy needled Rahm by saying, “I'm sure Jon doesn't want to go to South Africa next week" for a LIV event.
LIV players have to play every event on the schedule instead of going elsewhere — Graeme McDowell would not have been excused to play the Irish Open when LIV Golf played in Oregon the same week in 2022.
“He signed a contract for LIV and he plays 14 events and the whole thing,” McIlroy said. "But the DP World Tour is well within its rights to protect itself as a members organization and as a business. And if you asked any DP World Tour member about the deal that they have cut with the LIV guys they would, I think they would all say that it was pretty generous.
“Again, there's a reason that eight of the nine took it, because they probably think the same thing,” he said. “And one guy thinks a little differently, and that’s a shame.”
McIlroy spoke at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the same day Luke Donald was selected as European captain for the Ryder Cup a third straight time. Rahm has been on every Ryder Cup team since his debut in 2018.
“It’s great to see the clarity amongst the other players that have signed the conditional releases and understand that they are available (for the Ryder Cup),” Donald said. “Obviously, I haven’t talked to Jon so I don’t really want to comment on that yet. I know he has his own reasons. But I look forward to catching up with him and really hope that he’s available.”
Rahm's future with Europe, barring a change of mind, depends on a UK arbitration panel that is hearing his appeals. The panel in 2023 ruled in favor of the European tour that it had the right to impose fines as a membership organization. If it rules in the tour's favor in the Rahm case, his membership — and Ryder Cup eligibility — would be at risk.
“I think we should all be grateful that we have a platform like the Ryder Cup that we can play on and that we can showcase our skills and be a part of something that’s obviously way bigger than ourselves,” McIlroy said. “So at the end of the day it’s about the team, and no one player is bigger than the team.”
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