Rory McIlroy offers thoughts on Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and future Ryder Cup spots

The future of the Ryder Cup is a bit unclear.

To be specific, the future that is unknown is on the participant level. Professional golf is still in a place with cloudy details in terms of what players who are a part of LIV Golf are going to be eligible to do. Brooks Koepka recently left the league to return to the PGA Tour and perhaps he will be a part of the United States Ryder Cup team in 2027, but it is the European front that is in a bit of a bind.

In case you are unaware, this issue centers around Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton (both members of LIV Golf and its Legion XIII). Rahm and Hatton have been fined by the DP World Tour for their involvement with LIV and we are not talking about things on the level of parking citations here.

Millions of dollars in fines have been accrued and there is an argument to be made (in a vacuum, to be clear) that “simply” paying the fines is the path of least resistance for Rahm and Hatton to maintain eligibility for any future Ryder Cup.

Rory McIlroy seems to like that “simple” argument. He effectively challenged his fellow Europeans to do it.

McIlroy brought up how the Europeans pushed back at the American idea that players should be payed for participating in the Ryder Cup. Rory added that, as the Europeans challenged this American idea, they noted they would even pay to participate in it, that being paid mattered that little to them.

Acknowledging that it is very easy to offer answers when these aren’t our problems… Rory is at least putting his money (not literally) where his mouth is. He is essentially saying that Rahm and Hatton should do just that.

This is something that may or may not have any resolution any time soon, but that is par for the course (no pun intended) on all matters under this umbrella these days.