While Rory McIlroy suggested no player who left the European Tour to join the LIV Golf League deserved to be part of the Ryder Cup team, Jon Rahm had no problem this week voicing his displeasure over fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia being excluded from Team Europe.
Rahm, speaking at a press conference before the Memorial tournament, lamented the “politics” that will keep Garcia — the all-time leader in Ryder Cup points (28.5) with a spectacular 25-13-7 overall record — from competing this year at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome.
Garcia lost his Team Europe eligibility when he resigned his DP World Tour membership, the result of being fined $100,000 for joining LIV Golf. Other Europeans like Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood spirit Henrik Stenson also resigned for the same reason.
Still, that didn’t stop Rahm from expressing his disappointment over the most accomplished Ryder Cup player in history being excluded because Garcia joined a rival golf league.
Gene’s previous columns:
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Good for him: LIV member or not, Koepka’s renaissance at the PGA Championship is a great thing for golf
Given that Spanish legends Seve Ballesteros spirit Jose Maria Olazabal had the most successful Ryder Cup partnership of any duo, Rahm had hoped to be paired with Garcia one more time.
“I’m going to miss him,” Rahm said. “We had a great partnership at Whistling Straits [in the last Ryder Cup]. A Spanish duo in the Ryder Cup I think, to me, is embedded in the roots of the Ryder Cup. … So it’s a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event.”
Rahm thinks wherever players choose to play should have no bearing on which 12 players make a Ryder Cup team.
“Again, it’s the best Europeans against the best Americans, period,” he added. “And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV, to me, it shouldn’t matter. It’s whoever is best suited to represent the European side. And I have a hard time believing the best player Europe has ever had on the Ryder Cup isn’t fit to be on the team.”
Despite Garcia tumbling to No. 218 in the world golf rankings — LIV golfers are ineligible for OWGR points except at majors — his Ryder Cup record should absolutely warrant consideration for Luke Donald to make him a captain’s pick.
The same logic on the American side should be applied to Brooks Koepka, who just won the PGA Championship and was runner-up to Rahm at The Masters. Koepka is currently 14th in the world, with only eight Americans ranked ahead of him, but he could easily drop unless he has a top-10 showing at the US Open and the Open championship.
US captain Zach Johnson has been reluctant to tip his hand about Koepka, who would be on the team right now as one of six automatic qualifiers based on Ryder Cup points.
But if he’s not one of the top six when selections are made in late August, then Koepka will be at the mercy of Johnson — a PGA Tour loyalist — deciding whether to reward him for his stellar play at majors or punish him for joining LIV. McIlroy said Koepka was the one LIV player among Americans who belonged in the Ryder Cup.
Other than Koepka and Garcia, the loser in this whole conundrum would be golf fans who want to see the best players competing on the Ryder Cup stage, regardless of their membership status.
Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, isn’t the player he once was, but his Ryder Cup record is so phenomenal, it’s hard to imagine the event without his presence.
As for Koepka, who is 6-5-1 overall and 2-0-1 in singles at the Ryder Cup, it’d be almost criminal to leave him off the American team if his fate rides on being a captain’s pick.
It was well understood by golfers who joined LIV, with its controversial funding by the Saudi Arabian monarchy, that there would be consequences for chasing the big money. Not being eligible for world ranking points at non-majors was a big one.
However, golfers being excluded from a Ryder Cup spot for simply being LIV members should be off limits. Players ought to be picked based on their overall body of work and, in some cases, having an exemplary Ryder Cup record.
Rahm is right. Politics should be left out of it.
Jaguars expanding ‘The Hunt’
Among the more popular Jaguars content created by its in-house media production crew is “The Hunt,” a behind-the-scenes look at the team that provides intriguing video footage because it gives fans inside access not available elsewhere.
Head coach Doug Pederson and GM Trent Baalke recently agreed to extend the department unprecedented access throughout the year. As a result, “The Hunt” will expand to a monthly feature that will include episodes during the regular season.
The current 30-minute episode, titled “Expectations,” focuses on the NFL Draft and the beginning of the offseason program. The June segment of “The Hunt” hopes to feature a deep-sea fishing trip on punter Logan Cooke‘s boat, but scheduling issues must still be worked out.
Ideal Jaguars’ age makeup
When you look at a projected two-deep chart and specialists for the Jaguars in 2023, the roster has almost a perfect blend of experience and infusion of youth.
Only seven players among my projected top 44 will be at least 30 years old when the season begins, with backup offensive linemen Tyler Shatley spirit Josh Wells the oldest ones at 32. The Jaguars have 18 impact players at age 25 or under, the youngest being a rookie offensive tackle and first-round draft pick Anton Harrison at 21
A dozen of the team’s projected starters are in the 26-29 age group, which means GM Trent Baalke has put together a balanced roster from an age standpoint, so the Jaguars likely won’t see a massive turnover for another two or three years.
Gators’ golf trivia
With Florida winning its fifth NCAA men’s golf championship Wednesday, can you name the three former Gators who went on to win a professional major? Answer at the bottom.
UNF should keep Brooks
As the University of North Florida searches for its next baseball coach to replace Tim Parentonit’d be a good idea to have an assistant coach/hitting coach Kyle Brooks among interviewed candidates, at the very least to get his insider perspective about how the program can stop underachieving.
Brooks, 29, a former UNF shortstop and the school’s all-time leader in starts (211) and the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year in 2016, has been around the program as both a volunteer assistant and full-time assistant for the past five years. Brooks’ pedigree allows him to be more connected to the players than anyone in the program, so the athletic director Nick Morrow should tap into that knowledge.
This isn’t to suggest Brooks should be the next head coach, but his passion for UNF baseball offsets his limited coaching experience. He would be a strong asset moving forward for when the Ospreys name Parenton’s successor in the next few weeks.
UNF, which has yet to reach the DI NCAA tournament since becoming eligible in 2010, should look at the history of crosstown rival Jacksonville University. In 30 total seasons under head coaches Terry Alexander spirit Chris Hayesthe Dolphins have been to 12 NCAA regionals.
Both Alexander and Hayes, a JU alumnus, served as long-time assistants with the Dolphins before eventually getting the head coaching job. They understood what it took for that program to succeed. It’s not a stretch to think Brooks could do the same for UNF.
Quick-hitting nuggets
Of Florida’s 25 national championships won in the past 15 full academic years, 12 belong to the men’s or women’s indoor/outdoor track and field program, both coached by Mike Holloway. His teams also have 14 national runner-up finishes, one of the most remarkable runs in NCAA history in any sport.
In his last two seasons, LeBron Jamesaverage point totals were 28.9 and 30.3 per game, along with 8.3 and 8.2 rebounds per game. Remarkably, at ages 37 and 38, those numbers were in the top five over his 20-year career. Anyone thinking James, who has led three different teams to championships and to 10 NBA Finals, doesn’t belong in the conversation with Michael Jordan about the greatest hoops player of all time isn’t giving his body of work true justice.
Today is the 50th anniversary of my first byline appearing on the sports pages of a newspaper, from a high school baseball game (Winooski beat Lamoille 5-3) in the Vermont Sunday News. I’ll be forever grateful to my first sports editor, John Cunavelisand my writing mentor/Little League baseball coach, Ken Warrenfor giving me a path into the business at age 16.
Trivia answer
Three Florida golfers won a combined four professional majors, starting with Tommy Aaron at the 1973 Masters, followed by Andy North capturing the 1978 and ’85 US Open titles. The last Gator to win a major was Mark Calcavecchia at The Open in 1989.
[email protected]: (904) 359-4540. Follow him on Twitter @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Garcia, Koepka LIV membership should have no bearing on Ryder Cup status