“Hopefully I’ll get a consideration”: Dustin Johnson not giving up hope of playing the Ryder Cup again
There's no reason LIV Golf members like Dustin Johnson can't play in the Ryder Cup. There's no rule barring them for now. They require membership in the PGA of America and even though they defected, LIV golfers retained their membership through 2024 thanks to the organization's rules.
Johnson has no idea if he'd be invited to join the team, but he's willing to play if he is. In fact, he hopes he gets a consideration.
Johnson said via Golf Digest:
“I would love to, absolutely. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed playing and in the last Ryder Cup I played pretty well. It’s one of my favorite events to play in. I’d love to [do it again]. If I play well for the rest of the year, hopefully I’ll get a consideration.”
The two-time major winner is one of the most popular golfers out there. Despite leaving the PGA Tour, he is one golfer most PGA stars have said they miss the most. He has a lot of friends on the tour and is nice to almost everyone. He's also really good at golf, so if anyone from LIV is coming to the USA Ryder Cup team, it's Johnson.
However, Team USA captain Zach Johnson has no idea if he'll invite the rebels. As captain, he can invite six players to fill the second half of the team. The first half is filled by automatic qualifiers.
Right now, that's Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, and Patrick Cantlay. Behind them are Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, and Xander Schauffele.
Johnson admitted that the idea of choosing a LIV Golf player was difficult via News4Jax:
“It’s probably a little bit more difficult because I’m not face-to-face, nor am I witnessing their games. I don’t know what the conditions are like, probably don’t know what the golf courses are like."
He added:
"I mean, there’s competent players out there. But it’s hard to really decipher, I guess, what’s really going on. And frankly, I don’t know how they go about their work. I don’t really follow up much, but I might want to start.”
The Ryder Cup is about five months away, but there's no indication of which way the captain is leaning. If he does invite them, Dustin Johnson will be happy to join the United States roster.
Dustin Johnson incorrectly attributed to fiery PGA Tour comments
Part of the reason Dustin Johnson is so popular amongst golfers is that he never has a harsh word to say about anybody. He's kind to all, so when the news broke that he was lashing out at Jay Monahan, it was a big shock.
A story came out that someone, previously thought to be Johnson, said this:
"We don't give a damn how he feels. We know how he feels about us, so it's mutual.”
It turned out to be Pat Perez who said it, not Johnson. The latter responded with no comment after the report, but Perez owned it. He told everyone it was him who had slandered Monahan.