As we are about a year away from the next Ryder Cup – scheduled for September 22-28 at Bethpage Black in New York – so, it is time to look at the qualification factors for both the United States and the European teams.
There has been some shakeup on the European side recently, directly effecting the LIV players.
No longer are there two separate points lists that determine the top six automatic qualifiers for the team. Instead, there will be a new, single points list that more heavily weights tournaments such as major championships, PGA Tour signature events and DP World Tour Rolex Series events. There are no points available for LIV Golf events.
That is pretty heavy regarding LIV and when you add that players must remain members of the DP World Tour in order to be eligible for the European team.
A player such as Jon Rahm will have to play four regular season events on the DP World Tour to retain DP World Tour membership, and thus be eligible for the Ryder Cup.
European Captain Luke Donald will have a pool devoid of any LIV members so Rahm and Tyrell Hatton may not be available to be picked.
On the United States side, Captain Keegan Bradley is on record as saying his six Captain picks will be the best players available, and that includes LIV players.
At this point the PGA of America – the governing body of the Ryder Cup for the US side, – allows LIV members to maintain their memberships.
That includes Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson to name a few.
That’s a monstrous advantage for the US team.
What’s right?
I love the fact that the best players in the world, regardless of what tour they play on, are eligible for the majors. It makes it that the winner that week beat the best possible field.
And I think it should be the same for the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.
I was hopeful the PGA Tour/LIV mess could be resolved by now, but it hasn’t.
I simply do not enjoy watching the PGA Tour events as much as I used to, and perhaps that will change as I get to know more of the new players on tour.
It’s gotten to the point where it’s more about the four majors and the team events before I really zone into an event. I still follow every tournament but more often from afar than carving out time on the weekends to watch the tournament.
I have more interest in the weekend rounds if I am playing fantasy golf that week and my players are in contention, but if not, oh well.
As for LIV events, I have tried to watch but I just can’t get into it. I will never say never, but honestly, there is no desire. For now, we have the FedExCup playoffs for the PGA Tour that starts this week with the St. Jude Championship.
It will be a good three-week series, ending with the Tour Championship, but there will still seem to be something missing in the tournaments.
Until then, it’s back to waiting and hoping for resolution and everyone back under one umbrella.
By Dennis Miller