Rory McIlroy stated it was “a shame” that Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm was unwilling to accept the ‘really generous’ terms of a DP World Tour deal that would have guaranteed the Spaniard’s eligibility for the 2027 edition of the biennial contest.
Last month, eight LIV Golf players – Tyrrell Hatton, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, David Puig, and Elvis Smylie – accepted the terms of the deal allowing them to take part on both circuits including paying any outstanding fines, withdrawing all pending appeals, and increasing participation and media activity.
The two-time major winner, who has appealed the sanctions levied against him, hit out at the DP World Tour this week when outlining the reasons why he refused to sign the deal, accusing the circuit of “extorting players”.
“If you asked any DP World Tour member about the deal that they have cut with the LIV guys, I think they would all say that it was pretty generous,” McIlroy said ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“The European tour can only do so much to accommodate these guys. If you want to play on the Ryder Cup, you have to be a member of the DP World Tour. To be a member of the DP World Tour, you have to abide by the rules and regulations.
“In my opinion, it’s a really generous deal. It’s a much softer deal than what Brooks (Koepka) took to come back and play on the PGA TOUR.
“There’s a reason that eight of the nine took it because they probably think the same thing and one guy thinks a little differently and that’s a shame. He’s obviously well within his rights to think that way.
“The European [DP World] Tour can only do so much to accommodate these guys.”
Rahm’s Ryder Cup future remains in major doubt as a result of the ongoing dispute with the DP World Tour with Luke Donald, who was recently confirmed as Team Europe captain for the third consecutive occasion, admitting he would “love” to have him available for selection.
But McIlroy affirmed the competition “is bigger than any one person”.
“It’s bigger than all of us,” the Northern Irishman added. “We come and go. Players pass through the system. It’s the platform that’s the big thing. We should all be grateful that we have a platform like the Ryder Cup that we can play on and that we can showcase our skills and be a part of something that’s obviously way bigger than ourselves. So, at the end of the day, it’s about the team, and no one player is bigger than the team.”