Yahoo Sports Jon Rahm: LIV's Sergio Garcia deserves Ryder Cup spot
Jon Rahm believes that Sergio Garcia should be allowed to appear in the Ryder Cup in September and insists that his countryman would indeed be playing alongside him in Rome but for “politics”.
Since LIV Golf was formed last year, Rahm, the world No 2, has taken a far softer approach to the Saudi-funded circuit than Europe team-mates such as Rory McIlroy. But he has not been as forthright about the split as he was at The Memorial on Tuesday.
Garcia joined Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson in resigning from the DP World Tour earlier this month after being fined £100,000 for signing up for Greg Norman’s enterprise in a reported $5 0million deal.
By handing in his card, Garcia, 43, made himself ineligible for the Ryder Cup – in which has earned more points than any other golfer in the match’s 94-year history – although the 2017 Masters champion has claimed that he only quit after Luke Donald, the hoime captain, informed his friend that he had “no chance” of being granted one of the six wildcards. Rahm is clearly upset at the scenario.
“[The Ryder Cup should be] the best Europeans against the best Americans, period,” Rahm said in his pre-tournament press conference at the $20 million event in Ohio. “Whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn’t matter.
“It’s whoever is best suited to represent the European side. And I have a hard time believing that the best player Europe has ever had, the most successful player Europe has had in the Ryder Cup, isn’t fit to be on the team.”
The Tour maintains it was Garcia’s choice to walk away after a quarter of a century as as a member – and, also points out that he remains the only LIV player not to have paid that initial £100,000 fine – but Rahm is unconvinced.
“It’s sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event,” he said, before referring to his and Garcia’s unbeaten partnership in the 2021 defeat. “I’m going to miss him. We had a great partnership at Whistling Straits. A Spanish duo in the Ryder Cup I think to me is embedded into the roots of the Ryder Cup. Look what Seve [Ballesteros] and [Jose Maria Olazabal] were able to do throughout their partnership, right.”
There is still a good chance that Donald will have the opportunity to field a Spanish pairing. Adrian Otaegui is in the frame and so, too, is Pablo Larrazabal who won his fourth Tour title in the last 14 months in the Netherlands on Sunday.
“To make my debut as a 40-year-old with Jon, would be a dream come true,” Larrazabal said. “Jon messaged me after my victory and said we need to play together in practice before the Ryder Cup.”
