one-shot victory<\/a> over another Ryder Cup teammate, Ben Griffin. \u201cWhen I\u2019m in the gym, I see him in the gym. When I\u2019m out practicing, I see him out practicing. Russell is a guy I look up to for a variety of reasons. He\u2019s a great person; he\u2019s a great golfer as well. Anytime you see a guy who puts in the amount of effort that Russell puts into becoming a good golfer and seeing him have success, it really is special to see.\u201d<\/p>\nFor all of the talk about Scheffler and Sam Burns and their friendship, the duo have not exactly lit it up as partners. They went 0\u20132\u20131 at the 2022 Presidents Cup and 0\u20131 at the 2023 Ryder Cup, going 0\u20133 in foursomes.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Henley played three times with Scheffler last year at the Presidents Cup, going 2\u20131 and 1\u20131 in foursomes. That latter format is hugely important as it will begin the Ryder Cup. There\u2019s no way Scheffler is sitting out that session. So it makes sense if Henley is there alongside him.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo look around and see guys who have played on Ryder Cups before, guys you\u2019ve been trying to beat and match your game up to, now you\u2019re on that same team and it\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d Henley said. \u201cI keep pinching myself. I\u2019m just really excited. It\u2019s kind of surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a year ago last week that Jon Rahm, at the last minute, appealed his fines to the DP World Tour that resulted from playing in conflicting LIV Golf League events.<\/p>\n
It paved the way for him\u2014and Tyrrell Hatton as well\u2014to play in the Ryder Cup next week.<\/p>\n
Because the appeal has yet to be heard, the move effectively \u201ckicked the can\u201d down the road.<\/p>\n
At some point, however, there will be a hearing, and whatever the outcome, both sides are going to need to come to some reckoning.<\/p>\n
Rahm needed to appeal because the upcoming deadline for last year\u2019s Spanish Open loomed. In order to play, he needed to either pay the outstanding fines, believed to be in excess of $1 million, appeal them or risk his DP World Tour membership\u2014which would keep him out of the Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
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Jon Rahm can easily pay his DP World Tour fines but is refusing on principle. \/ Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Obviously, Rahm could afford to pay the fines (he\u2019s earned $36 million in bonus money the past two years alone). LIV Golf had been paying them, anyway (a practice league officials say will end after this year). But it was a matter of principle to Rahm, who believed such fines were not proper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of the fines. I think I\u2019ve been outspoken about that,\u201d he said on Sept. 11, 2024, at the LIV Golf Chicago event. \u201cI don\u2019t intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said many times, I don\u2019t go to the Spanish Open for the glory or anything else. I think it\u2019s my duty to Spanish golf to be there, and I also want to play in Sotogrande [another DP World Tour event]. At that point, it would almost be doing not only me but Spanish golf a disservice by not letting me play, so yeah, that\u2019s why we\u2019re trying to talk to them and make that happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would also love to play the Dunhill … I would love to be able to play all those events.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of which puts the DP World Tour in a tough spot. Because the fines were appealed, Rahm was allowed to play and continues to be able to do so, including this past week\u2019s BMW PGA Championship, where he tied for 13th.<\/p>\n
Clearly the DP World Tour wants the stars in its events and Rahm, a two-time major winner, is a star. The sponsors want him, too.<\/p>\n
But the DP World Tour also is faced with sticking to its rules and the millions of dollars it has collected in fines from others who ran afoul of the same conflicting events rules.<\/p>\n
In April 2023, the DP World Tour won a case that went before a U.K. arbitration panel, basically upholding the tour\u2019s right to enforce its rules and fines. So what happens if the appeal is denied? Or, what if Rahm\u2019s appeal is successful? What about all the fines already paid?<\/p>\n
When asked where the appeal process stands at Wentworth, Rahm said: \u201cI know as much as you do. I have no idea. I have no clue. To be fair, I completely forgot about, which is a good thing. I hope I forget about it until it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
When will it happen? The DP World Tour has never said, nor does there seem to be any indication as to why it is taking so long.<\/p>\n
One thing is for sure: there is no way it happens prior to next week.<\/p>\n
It continues to be a remarkable journey for Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion who disclosed in late 2023 that he had a brain lesion that required surgery. That fact that he came back early in 2024 and continues to play at a high level is a testament to his game and his resolve. And it is fair to keep things in perspective when pointing out his various struggles.<\/p>\n
Woodland, 41, who finished the regular season 72nd in FedEx Cup points, didn\u2019t qualify for the playoffs and thus needs some success in the fall if he wants to try and move into the top 60 and earn spots in the first two signature events next year.<\/p>\n
That is the carrot that will motivate him in the remaining events in the fall schedule, although Woodland is unsure how much he will play in order to take care of himself.<\/p>\n
![\"Gary]( "\\"Gary")
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Gary Woodland needs points in fall tournaments to secure better status for 2025 but will balance that with a need to rest. \/ Allison Lawhon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
He tied for 19th\u00a0at the Procore Championship, where he played along with the other Ryder Cup players and vice captains, a role Woodland will have next week at Bethapge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a massive deal; it is,\u201d Woodland said of trying to get into the top 60. \u201cBut I also have a lot of confidence in myself and my game. And physically, I need to make sure I\u2019m healthy. That might mean I take some time off after this. I\u2019m here [at the Procore] because the guys are here. I\u2019ll probably play in Japan and then we\u2019ll see. I might take the rest of the year off and when I show up do what J.J. [Spaun] did and go play my way into everything. It\u2019s nice to play well and not have to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been out of that [signature event) position the last two years and it changes everything. I played 17 years on Tour and this is the first time I haven\u2019t had a two-week break. I got into four elevated [signature] events. You play to get in them and then you have no time off. My body shut down a little bit. So it\u2019ll be maybe a decision where I rest and trust myself a little bit next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodland, who remained 72nd\u00a0in FedEx points after the Procore, played 21 times this season with a single top 10, a tie for second at the Houston Open. He had three other top-20 finishes but missed six cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NAPA, Calif. \u2014 When he steps onto the course at Bethpage Black on the opening day of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-147854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}