Jon Rahm Dodges Question About Being Offered a Ryder Cup Captain’s Pick

The Spaniard isn’t earning Ryder Cup points while playing on LIV Golf and would appear to need a pick from Luke Donald.

Jon Rahm was last year's LIV Golf champion but results from that league do not earn Ryder Cup points. / Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters via Imagn Images

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Although he wants to make the team on points, Jon Rahm doesn’t figure to have enough opportunities to earn his way onto the European Ryder Cup team by finishing among the top six players.

As a member of the LIV Golf League, he is not earning points for those events and he’s not playing enough events outside of LIV Golf to climb the table. He is currently 29th and only the top six when the team is chosen make the team automatically.

But it’s tough to envision the Ryder Cup without Rahm. Rory McIlroy made that clear in December 2023 after Rahm made the controversial decision to join the league.

So Rahm was asked Tuesday if he’s been assured of a spot via an at-large pick from captain Luke Donald.

“That’s a question for Luke,” Rahm said at Quail Hollow Club, site of this week’s PGA Championship. “It’s his team. Hopefully I can qualify, and we don’t have to question it I would like to think that personally I am, but it’s not up to me.”

But since Rahm is unlikely to qualify and will need a pick, he was asked again if Donald has told him not to worry.

“I'm not going to say anything about that, no,” he said. “Again, that's a question for Luke, the captain.”

Rahm’s coyness would suggest he’s been given some assurances by the captain. Otherwise, why not just say he hasn’t?

As a two-time major winner, Rahm would seemingly be a lock to be at Bethpage Black later this year. And while his major championship results of the past two years have not been to his liking, he’s still performed at a relatively high level.

Last year, Rahm won twice and won LIV Golf’s seasonlong points race. This year, he has not finished worse than ninth in seven events and has three top-five finishes. He also tied for 14th but missed the cut at the DP World Tour’s Dubai event in January.

In three Ryder Cup appearances, Rahm is 6–3–3 as Europe won in 2018 and 2023 and lost in 2021. In Rome two years ago, he won 2–0–2 in the European victory.