Jon Rahm opens up on last-ditch Ryder Cup decision

Jon Rahm has revealed he delayed his decision to appeal his fines and remain eligible for the Ryder Cup in the faint hope that peace would break out in men’s professional golf.

Rahm won LIV Golf’s final regular season event in Chicago on Sunday and also banked $18million as the league’s individual champion. But before his three-shot victory at the Bolingbrook Golf Club, the focus from European fans was on Rahm’s precarious Ryder Cup future.

The Spaniard maintained on Wednesday that he is refusing to pay DP World Tour fines for playing in conflicting LIV events, jeopardising his chances of playing against the United States at Bethpage Black in 2025.

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However, in a last-ditch email to Wentworth HQ on Thursday morning, Rahm’s representatives appealed the sanctions, meaning he is able to play in the Spanish Open at the end of the month and compete in the three more events he needs to fulfil his membership obligations and remain available for Ryder Cup selection.

Rahm later made it clear that following the lead of Tyrrell Hatton and starting a legal challenge to secure a stay of execution was always his likely option.  Yet he also suggested that he was waiting on possible movement in the peace talks between LIV’s bankrollers, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which were taking place simultaneously last week in New York.

“We sent the email I think it was at 5:00am Thursday morning,” Rahm explained in his winner’s press conference. “I think when I left here, I was about 99.8 percent sure that I was going to appeal.

“I think I had that decision almost made, but you’re still waiting towards the end after hearing that there were certain meetings happening in New York that maybe things would change or not.”

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Rahm is expecting his third child with wife Kelley in the coming weeks while juggling a packed schedule back in Europe. The Spanish Open follows this week’s LIV Team Championship in Dallas. After his home tournament in Madrid, Rahm plans to play the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland and the Andalucia Masters next month.

He continued: “It basically came down to first with the personal situation we have going on at home – I don’t know if it would have been the best for Kelley and I and our family to have to go through the stress of not playing in Spain and possibly jeopardising the Ryder Cup.

“And two, the fact that I’ve always loved being able to go play in Spain and give back to the country that’s given me so much. It would have just felt wrong to not be at the Spanish Open.

“With the hopes that things are going to improve in the future, as well, it basically became pretty clear that I wanted to appeal, fulfil my requirements as a European Tour member, and hopefully be able to qualify or be considered for Ryder Cup next year.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.