“I think what Jon said about growing the game and stuff, that’s obviously what they have to say,” Lowry said, according to the Irish Independent, at a press conference this week promoting next year’s Amgen Irish Open on the DP World Tour. “They’ve signed on the dotted line. They’ve been told by the communications team that this is what you say when you’re asked this and you have no other choice really because they own you now.

“I don’t know if it’s been damaging, but people who have spent their hard-earned money going out to join a golf club and buy golf clubs and play golf for the weekend, it’s tough for them to listen to the guy who’s already worth whatever say he has to do this to put food on the table for his wife and kids.”

Lowry is one of many who hopes that the standoff between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour will come to a halt sometime soon as the disruption caused by LIV has put golf in a “funny place.” He didn’t go so far as to attack executives at the PGA Tour, à la Viktor Hovland, but the 2019 Open champ is undoubtedly exhausted by the never-ending news cycle.

“Do I think they’ve been amazing? No, probably not,” Lowry said. “But I’m not going to criticise them because I think they couldn’t foresee this coming. It was something that just happened. I don’t really know.

“A lot of players have a lot of opinions on the leadership of the tour. But I don’t consider myself clever enough to be able to comment on running a billion-dollar organisation.”

Lowry echoed those comments while speaking with Irish sports website Balls.ie, where it was obvious his disappointment that he won’t get to tee off against Rahm until the Masters. His fellow pros hopping around has forced him to become a bit more “selfish” as well.

“Because it’s been going on for so long now, at the start it was dispiriting, but now, I’ve talked about this a lot with my team, you just have to worry about yourself,” Lowry told the website. “You just have to become that selfish golfer who picks their schedule and wants to play and win the best tournaments in the world. The best tournaments in my mind are Riviera, Bay Hill, the Players, and then leading up to the Masters. They are the tournaments I want to win.”

With all that said, Lowry is fanatical when it comes to the Ryder Cup, and he doesn’t see a reason for Team Europe to lose Rahm just because of his recent about-face. When it comes down to it, Lowry wants to win (and celebrate) the biennial event, and having Rahm on the team is certainly better than not having him.

Rory McIlroy recently called for a rules change to insure the Spaniard could make Team Europe’s Bethpage squad in 2025, but Lowry seemed confident that it won’t need to come down to that.

“The reason they [Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood] couldn’t play Ryder Cup this year was because they resigned their [DP World Tour] membership,” Lowry said Irish Open press conference. “There were certain players that would have been able to make the team if they played good enough, but they just didn’t. I am sure Rahmbo can play well enough to make the team, so if he doesn’t resign his membership, he can still make the team.”

Image: Andrew Redington

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Suffice it to say, Rahm’s Thursday announcement changes the calculus on many, many things, some big and some small. That became evident within hours of Rahm’s appearance in his LIV bomber jacket on Fox News.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Rory McIlroy, who just a few weeks earlier confidently predicted Rahm was going to stay with the PGA Tour, explained he felt no ill will toward Rahm for leaving: “I’m going to miss competing against him week in and week out. He has got so much talent, he’s so tenacious and he’s a great teammate in the Ryder Cup. The thing that I’ve realised is that you can’t judge someone for making a decision that they feel is the best thing for them.’’

McIlroy’s reference to the Ryder Cup became even more notable when addressing whether Rahm’s defection to LIV would impact his ability to play for Europe in the future. Most LIV golfers from the continent dropped their DP World Tour membership, and thus were ineligible to compete at Marco Simone in September. At the time, McIlroy noted that the logistics made sense and that LIV players had to understand the possibility of being shut out of the team, going so far as to say: “They’re going to miss being here [Rome] more than we’re missing them.”

But with Rahm’s decision, McIlroy took a new posture. “Jon is going to be in Bethpage in 2025 so, because of this decision, the European Tour (DP World Tour) are going to have to rewrite the rules for the Ryder Cup eligibility,’’ McIlroy told Sky. “There’s absolutely no question about that … I certainly want Jon Rahm on the next Ryder Cup team.”

Rory McIlroy’s thoughts on Jon Rahm signing up to LIV pic.twitter.com/RsfkbFs7Mp

— Jamie Weir (@jamiecweir) December 8, 2023

The about face from McIlroy on the issue was something that was noted by commenters on social media.

Rory’s singing a different tune now that it’s Rahm. Didn’t hear this kind of chat from him about the others who joined LIV. “They are going to miss being here (Rome) more than we’re missing them.” https://t.co/PVhu0KowvU

— Tom English (@TEnglishSport) December 8, 2023

To which, McIlroy owned up to his changed viewpoint.

Rory’s singing a different tune now that it’s Rahm. Didn’t hear this kind of chat from him about the others who joined LIV. “They are going to miss being here (Rome) more than we’re missing them.” https://t.co/PVhu0KowvU

— Tom English (@TEnglishSport) December 8, 2023

Indeed, Rahm’s jump to LIV is going to change a lot of people’s thinking about a lot of things.

Image: Jamie Squire

The post Rory McIlroy says Ryder Cup rules need to change in wake of Jon Rahm’s jump to LIV Golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Luke Donald has been named as the European Captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.

The 45 year old Englishman returns to the role having led Europe to a 16½ – 11½ victory against the United States in the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, earlier this year.

He will become Europe’s first repeat Captain since Bernard Gallacher performed the role in three consecutive Ryder Cups, in 1991, 1993 and 1995.

Donald will be aiming to become only the second Captain to lead Europe to victories both home and away, following Tony Jacklin who achieved the double at Muirfield Village in Ohio in 1987, retaining the Ryder Cup following his team’s victory two years previously at The Belfry, in England, in 1985.

Donald said: “I’m delighted and honoured to have been given the chance to lead Team Europe in the Ryder Cup once again. Great opportunities don’t come along very often in life and I’m a great believer that when they do, you need to grab them with both hands – this is one of these moments.

“I’ve been fortunate as a player to have had many amazing times in the Ryder Cup over the years and so to add being a winning Captain to that, to form bonds with the 12 players like we did in Italy and to get the result we did, was very special indeed.

Victorious Team Europe in Rome – Getty

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By John Huggan
Ireland’s Adare Manor will be named site for the 2026 Ryder Cup as early as Thursday, according to multiple reports in the U.K. and Ireland. The County Limerick course in the southwest part of the republic, owned by multi-millionaire businessman J.P McManus since 2015, is home to an award-winning five-star hotel, as well as the Tom Fazio-designed “The Golf Course.”

“The course is very close to my heart as I was involved in the recent renovations,” says three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, the Dubliner who will captain the European Ryder Cup side at Whistling Straits next year. “It is now, combining the course and the clubhouse, the best resort in Europe. The conditions are immaculate, second-to-none.”

Still, judging from recent history, it is not necessarily the quality of the course that may have played the biggest role in Adare Manor’s bid proving most attractive to the European Tour, which runs the Ryder Cup along with the PGA of America. Ever since 1981, when the Ryder Cup was played at Walton Heath just outside London, the matches have basically gone to the highest bidder when contested in Europe. Which is why they have been played on less-heralded courses than those of the Open Championship rota, such as The Belfry, the K Club, Valderrama, Celtic Manor and the PGA Course at Gleneagles in the last 25 years.

Not insignificantly, according to reports, as part of the deal that will see Ireland play host to the biennial contest for only the second time, the financial future of the European Tour’s Irish Open has been guaranteed until 2026. Again, this is nothing new. The Wales Open (Celtic Manor), the Johnnie Walker Classic (Gleneagles), the French Open (Le Golf National) and the European Open at the K Club near Dublin, where the Ryder Cup was previously held when it was in Ireland in 2006, all benefited similarly over the last couple of decades. All, however, have either disappeared from the European Tour schedule or suffered a significant downgrading after hosting the Ryder Cup, which reputedly funds the European Tour’s operations for four years.

So money talks loudest where the Ryder Cup is concerned. And the background to this announcement is no different. According to BBC Sport, it is believed that the cost to the Irish government will be tens of millions of Euros. But the hoped-for benefit to the economy will be more than €160 million.

“Irish sport and Irish golf is really excelling now,” Irish sports minister Shane Ross told BBC Sport in the wake of Shane Lowry’s thrilling victory at Royal Portrush last week. “We would love to see Shane teeing-up, along with other Irish players, in Adare. It would be absolutely superb.”

Indeed. And expensive.

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FUTURE RYDER CUP VENUES

2020: Whistling Straits, Haven, Wis.
2022: Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, Italy
2024: Bethpage Black, Farmingdale, N.Y.
2026: Adare Manor, County Limerick, Ireland
2028: Hazeltine National, Chaska, Minn.
2030: TBD
2032: Olympic Club, San Francisco
2034: TBD
2036: Congressional Country Club (Blue Course), Bethesda, Md.

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