Masters winner takes firm Ryder Cup stance

Jon Rahm joined a growing list of world-class stars clamoring for the best to compete against the best at the Ryder Cup this fall. 

The countdown to the 2023 Ryder Cup is on and with one of the sport’s biggest competitions set to take center stage on a global scale once again, all eyes are fixed upon who will be representing the United States and Europe in Italy this September.

While there still remains a small chance that one or two stars on the emergent LIV Tour could play a part at this year’s Ryder Cup, namely recent PGA Champion Brooks Koepka, the realistic likelihood is that the competition set to take place at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club will only feature stars from both the PGA and DP World Tours in a few months time.

Understandably, this hasn’t gone over well with big-name players who will be representing both sides this Autumn.

Speaking shortly after the PGA Championship, current world number one Scottie Scheffler weighed in with his opinion on the matter, Per SBNation’s Jack Milko:

"“Well, I wanna win the Ryder Cup. I don’t care about tours or anything like that,” Scheffler admitted. “Something we talked about—I guess it was like a year and a half ago—was that we want to beat those guys in Europe.”"

Team USA will look to defend the Ryder Cup later this year after their emphatic victory over the Europeans at Whistling Straits in 2021.

While the Americans won in a landslide, a 19-9 margin over their European rivals to be precise, the Stars and Stripes have struggled to find their footing on European soil.

U.S. Captain Zach Johnson and his team will travel to Italy in September in search of the Americans’ first win in Europe since 1993.

Facing a nearly 30-year drought since their last win outside of the United States in the historic competition, it is understandable why Scheffler and others want to put the politics aside and focus on what matters the most, winning the 44th Ryder Cup.

Of course, the Europeans will also want to send out their best later this year as well coming off their worst defeat in the Ryder Cup since the 1975 Ryder Cup, also on U.S. soil. But with long-standing stalwarts such as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, and Ian Poulter, resigning their DP World Tour memberships and appearing unlikely to feature as well, the task at hand is an increasingly tall one.

Masters champion Jon Rahm takes strong Ryder Cup stance.

Speaking ahead of the 2023 Memorial Tournament, Jon Rahm was the latest star to voice his opinion on the matter. It should come of little surprise to hear the world’s second-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking agree with Scheffler, the best need to be competing against the very best.

"“So it’s a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event. Again, it’s the best Europeans against the best American, period. And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn’t matter.”"

The Spaniard’s comments come after recent comments made by Sergio Garcia with the now LIV star suggesting that he had essentially been told by European Team Captain, Luke Donald, that he had ‘no chance’ of making this year’s Ryder Cup team after Sergio had resigned his DP World Tour membership.

Following strong comments made by big stars on both sides of the historic competition, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Ryder Cup would be doing itself a strong disservice by letting politics within the sport impact the competition on the course in Italy this fall.