Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm advocate for inclusion of LIV Golfers in the Ryder Cup
Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm have stated their opinion on LIV Golf in the Ryder Cup, expressing their support for its inclusion. Ahead of this year's competition, the respective countries must choose whether or not to include controversial golfers like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, and others.
The top two players in the world (Scheffler edges out Rahm for the lead currently) said that they don't want LIV to be left out.
According to BroBible, Scheffler told the media that he didn't care what tour anyone was on. When it comes to the Cup, Scheffler doesn't care if they're playing for LIV or PGA.
Jon Rahm said the same thing. In fact, he was disappointed that it seemed as if the European team wouldn't be considering LIV players.
“It’s a little sad that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event. Again, it’s the best Europeans against the best Americans, period. And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me, shouldn’t matter. It’s whoever is best suited to represent the European side," Jon Rahm said.
He continued, cementing his support for controversial LIV star Garcia:
"I have a hard time [believing] that the best player Europe has ever had. The most successful player Europe has had on the Ryder Cup, isn’t fit to be on the team. I’m going to miss him."
The opinion on LIV Golf has softened tremendously in recent times. Before the Masters this year, there was a lot of vitriol towards the rebel tour. There was a lot of anger in the media on both sides but that appears to be getting milder.
LIV Golf opinion smoothing with Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler remarks
PGA Tour stars like Rory McIlroy took opportunities to call out LIV, and LIV players like Phil Mickelson took umbrage with that. Then, when the two tours were forced to play together at the Masters, things seemed to ease.
Dustin Johnson said his friends on the Tour were still his friends. He was reportedly the most missed player on the Tour as well.
Brooks Koepka said he had a chat with McIlroy and Justin Thomas and that no one was upset about any of it. It began to appear as if the outrage was performative.
Then, two LIV players finished T2 at the Masters (Koepka and Mickelson) behind Jon Rahm. At the PGA Championship, LIV showed out once again, with Koepka being victorious and Bryson DeChambeau having a nice finish.
Suddenly, it's as if there was almost no animosity towards the rebel tour. If it can manage to continue at its pace and stay alive, LIV may eventually be able to coexist with PGA. At least, the players on each tour can coexist.
There's certainly still some anger and some golfers on either side still harbor ill will towards the other. But things certainly have cooled down from the boiling point things used to be at.
The future of golf is still a little murky, but things do look quite a bit clearer now. Perhaps the Ryder Cup, if LIV is allowed to play, will be what brings them even closer together.