Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nFILE – Jon Rahm, left, of Spain, talks with Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, on the practice range during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel, File)Source: AP<\/p>\n
For McIlroy the biggest frustration from the Rahm situation is that the Spaniard is potentially jeopardising his place on the European Ryder Cup team.<\/p>\n
It was announced overnight that Luke Donald will take on the captaincy for a third time at Ireland\u2019s Adare Manor next year.<\/p>\n
McIlroy described Donald\u2019s appointment as \u201camazing\u201d and said \u201cit\u2019s obviously a huge advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was sort of banging on that drum going into Bethpage. And we\u2019ll have it even more so again, you know,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Now, the Masters champion is eager for the players from European team that has won the last two editions of the biennial tournament against the United States of America to stick together.<\/p>\n
But stressed that if Rahm does not play ball, they will push on without him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ryder Cup is bigger than any one person. It\u2019s bigger than all of us,\u201d McIlroy said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe come and go. Players are\u2014we pass through the system. Like, it\u2019s the platform that\u2019s the big thing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should all be grateful that we have a platform like the Ryder Cup that we can play on and that we can showcase our skills and be a part of something that\u2019s obviously way bigger than ourselves. So at the end of the day it\u2019s about the team and no one player is bigger than the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 21: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland speaks to the media after his round during the third round of The Genesis Invitational 2026 at Riviera Country Club on February 21, 2026 in Pacific Palisades, California. Orlando Ramirez\/Getty Images\/AFP (Photo by Orlando Ramirez \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
The likes of Rahm\u2019s LIV and Ryder Cup teammate Tyrell Hatton as well as Australian young gun Elvis Smylie all agreed to the deal with the DP World Tour.<\/p>\n
It means they will not face penalties for playing in Hong Kong this week, while the Joburg Open is played in South Africa.<\/p>\n
It also means that the Ryder Cup door remains open to Hatton and for fellow Europeans Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez and David Puig.<\/p>\n
McIlroy stressed that, unlike Rahm, they could see the benefit of playing two extra events to avoid fines or needing a release to play on LIV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich isn\u2019t a heavy lift,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI mean, to retain your membership is four events on the DP World Tour outside of the major championships. And that to me doesn\u2019t seem … yes, maybe the European Tour gets to have a say in where those two events are, but I mean, I\u2019m sure Jon doesn\u2019t want to go to South Africa [in two weeks for a LIV event] but he\u2019s going there.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe signed a contract for LIV and he plays 14 events and the whole thing. Like I get all that. But the DP World Tour is well within its rights to protect itself as a members organisation and as a business. And if you asked any DP World Tour member about the deal that they have cut with the LIV guys they would, I think they would all say that it was pretty generous.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo again, there\u2019s a reason that eight of the nine took it, because they probably think the same thing, and one guy thinks a little differently, and that\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy has responded to Jon Rahm\u2019s claims that the DP World Tour is \u201cextorting players\u201d with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[6074,2620,2095,64,129216,59820,63,259498,259493,485,259495,2057,245539,51331,2105,755,1745,29991,259500,481,51335,259497,259496,2041,2067,3583,5492,67058,55667,259499,259494,756,1656,1183,18780,3595,2020,85,42307,6926,81845,73133,2614,249747],"class_list":{"0":"post-519736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-agence-france-presse","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-augusta","13":"tag-augusta-national-golf-club","14":"tag-australia","15":"tag-australian-young-gun","16":"tag-bay-hill-club","17":"tag-california","18":"tag-charlie-riedel","19":"tag-europe","20":"tag-european-events","21":"tag-european-team","22":"tag-getty-images-inc","23":"tag-golf","24":"tag-golf-news","25":"tag-golf-tournament","26":"tag-john-rahm","27":"tag-los-angeles","28":"tag-luke-donald","29":"tag-media-rights-agreement","30":"tag-members-organisation","31":"tag-north-america","32":"tag-northern-america","33":"tag-northern-europe","34":"tag-northern-ireland","35":"tag-orlando-ramirez","36":"tag-pacific-palisades","37":"tag-players-are-we-pass","38":"tag-practice-round","39":"tag-rory-mcilroy","40":"tag-shane-lowry","41":"tag-south-africa","42":"tag-southern-africa","43":"tag-southern-europe","44":"tag-spain","45":"tag-sports","46":"tag-state-of-georgia","47":"tag-thomas-detry","48":"tag-tom-mckibbin","49":"tag-tyrell-hatton","50":"tag-united-states-of-america","51":"tag-victor-perez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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