Two Team Europe Stars Face Shock Ryder Cup Ban in Nightmare Twist
Two of Team Europe's star players may never play in the Ryder Cup again after this year's edition.
On Friday, the 2025 Ryder Cup got underway at the Bethpage Black Course in New York.
Defending champions Team Europe, led by captain Luke Donald, got off to a great start as they had a score of five-and-a-half points compared to the American score of two-and-a-half points at the end of the first day.
To retain the trophy, Europe need to pick up 14 points overall, while the Americans will need to score 14-and-a-half points to win the tournament on home soil.
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However, it has been reported that two current Team Europe stars could be barred from the Ryder Cup in the future.
As per The Express, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were only permitted to take part in this year's Ryder Cup after 'lodging appeals against the DP World Tour'.
Rahm and Hatton are two of the LIV Golf players at the Ryder Cup, and are appealing against fines imposed by the DP World Tour for playing in the LIV Tour.
As they are in the middle of an appeal process, they have been allowed to play at the Ryder Cup.
If the pair had decided against appealing, they would have been banned from taking part in this year's tournament.
When asked about the current situation, Rahm said: "You know as much as I do. I have no idea. I have no clue. To be fair, I completely forgot about it, which is a good thing. I hope I forget about it until it happens."
The Spaniard also stated that he has no intention of paying the fines and believes that he will be able to take part in future Ryder Cups.
Rahm also paid tribute to fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who failed to make Team Europe.
He said: "He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a Spanish player, and the moments we shared in Whistling Straits and Paris. Personally I’m always going to want him around. He did play good early on in the year, very, very good.
"He was playing incredible golf, maybe in some parts of the world that you weren’t watching. It seemed like from April on, he didn’t keep that level. So I don’t think he helped himself.
"I understand that while we are not earning points or the rankings, we need to make a really strong case to be picked. Had he kept that level he might have been on the team but he didn’t play as good as he could have. Subjectively, I’m always going to root for him."
Marcus Chan