Jon Rahm, locked in a battle with Joaquin Niemann for the LIV Golf points championship, said Wednesday he wants to play in three DP World Tour events to remain eligible for the 2025 Ryder Cup.
One caveat: If the tour lets him.
Rahm said his representatives are talking with World Tour officials about his playing in the Spanish Open on Sept. 26-29, a tournament he entered “a long time ago.” At issue is that Rahm refuses to pay fines levied by the tour for jumping ship to LIV.
“Whether they let me play or not is a different thing. I’m not a big fan of the fines. I think I’ve been outspoken about that. I don’t intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen,” Rahm told reporters at Bolingbrook Golf Club outside Chicago, site of this week’s LIV event.
Rahm is also eyeing playing in Scotland (Oct. 3-6) and again in Spain, in the Andalucia Masters (Oct. 17-20). Those three would at least meet requirements for Ryder Cup eligibility.
“I’ve said many times, I don’t go to the Spanish Open for the glory or anything else,” Rahm said. “I think it’s my duty to Spanish golf to be there, and I also want to play in Sotogrande. At that point, it would almost be doing not only me but Spanish golf a disservice by not letting me play.”
Rahm leads Niemann by about 3 points in the race for the LIV individual points title heading into the penultimate tournament this week.
“Obviously, it would be a great accomplishment to come in in my first season and win it,” Rahm said. “It is the goal, but it’s not easy to do, especially with how great players like (Niemann) have played. Even just getting to this point, it’s been a good year. I think overall, what I felt like I’ve played and maybe what I’ve read in the media of how I’ve been playing hasn’t matched what I was feeling. I think I was playing better golf than I was given credit for.”
Said Niemann, “there is obviously a big goal for the season this week. One of my goals was to win the season, and yeah, it’s all come down to the last week. There’s a little extra pressure, which I feel like is nice. It’s part of the sport and being competitive.
“For me, yeah, it fuels me in a good way to get better, to work harder, and to be more ready for that position,” he added.
Niemann is concerned, though, that the championship ring, should he win it, would be nicer than the wedding ring his wife has. The ring is 5.78 carats of white diamonds, with 1.2 carats of natural green emeralds, green glow-in-the-dark UV enamel detailing and 1 carat of black diamonds for a 14 carat gold weight of 84.8 grams.
“That’s pretty cool. Probably my wife won’t be happy knowing that my ring would have more …” he said, trailing off to laughter. “No, I feel it’s pretty special. It’s a little different than other trophies, so it would be pretty cool to have an extra ring.”
–Field Level Media
