Jon Rahm has sights set on Bethpage for the Ryder Cup
To hear Jon Rahm tell it, he'll stand on the side of the Long Island Expressway with a Bethpage or bust sign if need be.
Rahm reiterated on Tuesday that he expects to be at Bethpage Black, the host site of this year's Ryder Cup, in late September. Someway, somehow, Rahm wants to be on the 12-man European team that will be trying to retain the Ryder Cup with a road victory in Farmingdale, New York.
“I don't know what's going to happen in the future but I can tell you my plan is to be on that team at Bethpage,” he said during a press conference in Dubai ahead of his debut in the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic.
The Spaniard, who took a giant payday to join LIV Golf last year, appealed sanctions against him in September, which allowed him and fellow LIV players Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk to keep playing in DP World Tour events and satisfy the circuit’s minimum four starts to be eligible to make the European Ryder Cup team.
A third-party arbiter will rule on the fines and suspension levied against him for playing in LIV Golf events in 2024 that were held concurrently with the European circuit's tournaments. When that hearing will be held is unclear.
“I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm hoping they don't try to settle the appeal before The Ryder Cup,” Rahm said. “I don't think that would be good for anybody. But my plan is to be at Bethpage.”
Rahm, a two-time major winner and former world No. 1, was a key cog in Europe’s victory at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, winning three points. Rahm's fellow Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy called winning on the road at a Ryder Cup the toughest thing to do in sports, and the task will be that much more difficult if Rahm were to be barred from competing. The European team, which didn't have any LIV players in 2023, will be seeking to win on U.S. soil for the first time since 2012. European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald says he's open to the idea of LIV players being on his team, which will consist of six qualifiers and six captain's picks.
Rahm has won three times previously in Dubai. With the LIV season not beginning until Feb. 6 in Saudi Arabia, Rahm is looking to get a start on meeting the Ryder Cup requirement of four DP World Tour starts and work off some rust before his season begins in earnest.
“It's going to be quite tricky for me to play more DP World Tour events until after August. It's quite a busy schedule,” said Rahm, who is making his debut at this week's tournament at Emirates Golf Club, where McIlroy is the defending champion. “So it's nice to play one early on and not have to play too many after the Ryder Cup. Towards the end is always difficult. I never want to fall short and possibly lose my membership. So there's many reasons why this week was a really great choice for me in my schedule.”
“I think at this point to not give LIV World Ranking points and the credibility it deserves, I think is wrong.” – Jon Rahm shares his thoughts on the
Official World Golf Ranking system. @damonhackGC and @eamonlynch react. pic.twitter.com/dGTr2oRoHp— Golf Today (@GCGolfToday) January 14, 2025
Rahm has dropped to No. 31 in the Official World Golf Ranking but he’s eligible for the majors for the next four seasons as a result of his victory at the 2023 Masters. Still, he argued that LIV’s top players deserve to receive exemptions into majors. Rahm also expressed hope that a deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund could still be in the offing.
“I think a lot of us would say that when that framework agreement was done over a year and a half ago, things would be further along at this point. And it's real hard to know what goes on behind closed doors, right. It's up to people much higher up than me. I don't know what their vision is or what they are expecting out of it, right,” he said. “I think so many of us want some kind of resolution to come together and get the best product possible for the consumer, which is what I think we're still in a position to do.
"But I think we're living in a golden era right now for golf where the possibilities are endless. A big tour in Europe and worldwide and a massive tour, the PGA Tour, and you have another big product with live and now you're even adding the TGL. When it comes to golf, the possibilities are there right now."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: jon-rahm-ryder-cup-bethpage