by 
Jon Rahm has a decision to make, and he has to make it quickly. How much does he want to play in the Ryder Cup next year?
The answer could be found in the entry list for the Spanish Open, which ends next Thursday. If the two-time major winner is unable to play in Madrid, it becomes increasingly difficult to see how he will be eligible for the Bethpage match.
Unless he meets the minimum quota of four events required to remain a member of the DP World Tour, let alone qualify in his own right for the team, as he has done for his three European appearances to date, Luke Donald wouldn’t even be able to pick him as one of his six wild cards.
Rahm would be unavailable and Europe’s hopes of winning on American soil for the first time in 13 years, in a venue that could prove the most hostile in the event’s nearly century-old history, would suffer a major blow.
Inevitably, accusations of self-sabotage would be levelled at Wentworth headquarters and he would be accused of ignoring Rory McIlroy, who, following Rahm’s £450m defection to LIV Golf late last year, said the DP World Tour needed to change the rules to ensure the Spaniard was there on Long Island.
Imagine, his detractors would say. The rules of golf have taken precedence over reason. And Rahm would not hesitate to say that he would like to play in the blue and gold jersey again, that the Ryder Cup is in his Latin blood.
But that would be grossly unfair to the Tour and ridiculously generous to Rahm. If he’s missing from Donald’s dozen in 12 months, there’ll be only one person to blame: Jon Rahm.
McIlroy didn’t know it at the time, but there was no point in changing the membership rules to please Rahm. A closer look at them revealed that the current rules allow rebels to remain eligible. Just pay the fines, skirt the bans and play in four events. Simple enough.
In fact, Tyrrell Hatton, Rahm’s partner in Rome last year, has stressed in recent weeks that he might even suspend the fines, appealing their severity.
The DP World Tour has allowed the Englishman to get going despite this and, having competed at the Belfry at the British Masters last week, he is now just one event away from meeting the regulations.
Rahm’s three chances to qualify
Adrian Meronk, the Pole who also left the tour this year, has already managed to win four. Even Chilean Joaquin Niemann, who has no interest in the Ryder Cup, has managed it. So one might wonder why Rahm didn’t succeed and why did he let this alarming scenario develop? Apart from the majors and LIV events, the tour has staged 18 tournaments so far this season. Why hasn’t he played in a single one of them?
Rahm suffered an injury that caused him to miss the US Open in June and he may well cite that as a factor, but if he is determined to represent his continent he still has a way to go. With the Olympics counting as one, which is ridiculous in itself, he has three more to go. The Dunhill Links is the week after Spain, then there are the Andalucia Masters, the French Open and the Genesis Championship in South Korea.
Next up are the Tour play-offs, the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship, but currently ranked 112th, due to his seventh-place finish at The Open, Rahm is not qualified for either.
If his plan is to get his quartet into the shadows of the finish line, he is playing a dangerous game, especially since he faces a week or two of suspension for competing in the final two LIV events later this month. That is why next week’s deadline for Spain, September 26-29, seems so crucial.
Rahm may be banking on the fact that negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund – which funds the LIV – will finally reach a resolution and all the barriers will be removed. Or perhaps he truly believes that Europe would not dare to step into the bear pit without him and that the powers that be will find a way out.
Yet, based on what Donald said last week, he is adamant that the rules will not be changed for a player who, according to insiders, “is stubborn.”
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Jon,” Donald said. “He knows exactly what it’s about. He knew when he signed with LIV what the policies were at DP World Tour. You have to play four.
“Under all the policies, he can pay the fines or appeal as some have done, and this gives him the opportunity to do that. It’s really up to him to do that and become eligible. He certainly mentioned that at the beginning. [US] “He was willing to do whatever it took to commit to me and the team. I hope that happens.”
So, Rahm is “willing to do whatever it takes” to play in Europe. There’s just one last thing left to say: go out there and prove it.
