Jon Rahm has declared he will play for Europe in next year’s Ryder Cup, with the Spaniard confident of ending his standoff with the DP World Tour by this September. Rahm’s sentiment from Augusta National will raise Luke Donald’s confidence that he will be able to call on one of his key team members for Europe’s Ryder Cup defence.
Rahm has been subject to fines reaching seven figures for participating on the LIV Tour without consent from the DP World Tour, of which he is still a member. Rahm dropped his appeal over the sanctions recently, which leaves him in default to the DP World Tour and unavailable for Ryder Cup selection. He also turned down a deal which would have seen the situation resolved in return for playing six designated DP World Tour events.
Asked whether he is confident he will turn out for Europe at Adare Manor, Rahm said: “Yes.” The 2023 Masters champion added: “I didn’t think that going the legal route and going to court was good for anybody. I have faith in us and the DP World Tour, that we are going to find a good solution for both of us.
“ We keep talking to them and we keep trying to negotiate. I have given in quite a bit in a few things.
“We’re going to work it out. It’s going to work out. As of now, the DP World Tour is doing what they need to do and following the channels they need to follow but I’m confident this will be sorted out before I tee it up in September.”
Rahm’s timeframe coincides with the Irish Open, which will be staged at Donald Trump’s Doonbeg resort from 9 September. Rahm insisted he was unsure whether he is currently banned from participating in DP World Tour competitions but for the first time publicly named half a dozen events he would be happy to enter.
“I’m not planning to play until September,” he said. “So that’s a bit of a positive. If I were unable right now, it doesn’t matter since I’m not planning to tee it up until after August like I have done in my career.
“I do intend to continue to support the DP World Tour. I’ve been very thankful to be a member. I’ve been very thankful to support the Tour and play some wonderful events.
“The Irish Open has been very good to me, and I would love to make a return. Wentworth has been fantastic every single year, the Spanish Open, maybe even the Dunhill. We have some events like the French Open and the Omega [European Masters]. Those are events that I’d love to have the chance to play.”
US unless stated; (a) denotes amateurs. Local Augusta time/British summer time:
7:40/12:40 Johnny Keefer, Li Haotong (Chn)
7:50/12:50 Max Homa, Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn), Carlos Ortiz (Mex)
8:02/13:02 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), José María Olazábal (Sp), Aldrich Potgieter (SA)
8:14/13:14 Ángel Cabrera (Arg), (a) Jackson Herrington, Sami Välimäki (Fin)
8:26/13:26 Ryan Fox (NZ), Max Greyserman, Charl Schwartzel (SA)
8:38/13:38 Rasmus Højgaard (Den), Matt McCarty, Vijay Singh (Fij)
8:50/13:50 Casey Jarvis (SA), Kurt Kitayama, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
9:02/14:02 Nicolás Echavarría (Col), (a) Brandon Holtz, Bubba Watson
9:19/14:19 Sam Burns, Jake Knapp, Cameron Smith (Aus)
9:31/14:31 Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor (Can)
9:43/14:43 Jason Day (Aus), Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry (Ire)
9:55/14:55 Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Patrick Reed
10:07/15:07 Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Xander Schauffele
10:19/15:19 Russell Henley, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Collin Morikawa
10:31/15:31 (a) Mason Howell, Rory McIlroy (NI), Cameron Young
10:43/15:43 Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Alex Norén (Swe)
11:03/16:03 Im Sung-jae (Kor), Sam Stevens
11:15/16:15 Brian Campbell, Tom McKibbin (NI), Andrew Novak
11:27/16:27 Wyndham Clark, (a) Mateo Pulcini (Arg), Mike Weir (Can)
11:39/16:39 Nicolai Højgaard (Den), Zach Johnson, Michael Kim
11:51/16:51 (a) Ethan Fang, Davis Riley, Danny Willett (Eng)
12:03/17:03 Daniel Berger, Brian Harman, Adam Scott (Aus)
12:15/17:15 Fred Couples, (a) Pongsapak Laopakdee (Tha), Min Woo Lee (Aus)
12:27/17:27 Jacob Bridgeman, Sergio García (Sp), Aaron Rai (Eng)
12:44/17:44 Michael Brennan, Corey Conners (Can), Harry Hall (Eng)
12:56/17:56 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Maverick McNealy, JJ Spaun
13:08/18:08 Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Chris Gotterup, Jon Rahm (Sp)
13:20/18:20 Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose (Eng), Jordan Spieth
13:32/18:32 Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka (Aut), Justin Thomas
13:44/18:44 Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Scottie Scheffler, Gary Woodland
13:56/18:56 Harris English, Kim Si-woo (Kor), Marco Penge (Eng)
PA Media
Rahm’s latest Masters tilt will begin in the company of Chris Gotterup and Ludvig Åberg at 1.08pm (6.08pm BST) on Thursday. The defending champion Rory McIlroy has been drawn with Cameron Young and the amateur Mason Howell. Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre will have the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, and Gary Woodland alongside him.
