Tommy Fleetwood to Jon Rahm: "The Ryder Cup is much bigger than all of us"

Tommy Fleetwood says the Ryder Cup is 'bigger than any individual' as he offered his take on Jon Rahm's recent behaviour. 

Last week, the Spaniard came within hours of forfeiting his place on the 2025 European Ryder Cup team on a point of principle. 

He objects to paying the fines imposed on him by the DP World Tour for playing in LIV Golf events. 

Those fines are thought to be in the region of $1m and the 2023 Masters champion was even unwilling to let LIV stump up the cash on his behalf. 

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Rahm, who pocketed $22m last week after being crowned the breakaway's individual champion, kept his hopes alive by lodging an appeal.

Tyrrell Hatton has done the same and those cases are unlikely to be heard until next year at the earliest. 

Both appeals are likely to be rejected given the precedent was set when the DP World Tour won a landmark arbitration case against LIV players last May.  

The appeals do mean, however, that in the meantime Rahm will be able to play the minimum number of events on the European-based circuit he needs by the end of the year and be eligible for the Ryder Cup. 

A captain's pick would not have saved Rahm had he not fulfilled the requirements. 

"I think, you know, there can be a Ryder Cup team without any particular player in it," Fleetwood told reporters before the BMW PGA Championship when asked if he could conceive of not having Rahm involved.  

Fleetwood said the Cup is 'bigger than any one individual'. 

He added: "But you know, I think if you look at the last Ryder Cup team, there was a big deal made about who we were missing in the last Ryder Cup in terms of not even -- playing is one side and presence in a team room is another and we didn't have a lot of big characters in the last one. 

"You don't want to lose anybody that you know that you can have there but at the same time, the Ryder Cup is much bigger than all of us."

Fleetwood was asked if the rules and regulations need to be changed so you don't need to be a member of the European Tour to be part of the Ryder Cup. 

No, Fleetwood said, adding: "I think if you're going to play for Team Europe -- in my opinion, you should be a member and a part of the Tour in some respect. 

"I'm not saying it has to be necessarily super strict but following the regulations at the moment are the right thing to do."

"Luke was definitely the right call"

Earlier in the week Ian Poulter spoke of his renewed hope to one day be a Ryder Cup captain if and when the world of men's professional golf gets back together again. 

Rory McIlroy offered a dim view of Poulter's comments, suggesting the Englishman 'isn't around anymore' and therefore it would be difficult for him to build a rapport with potential players. 

Fleetwood said: "I think it is important for the captain to have a great connection with the players for sure. 

"Who knows, you know, in the future and what a team of players looks like and who that captain can be or will be. It's a difficult one, isn't it? 

"Because I think there's clearly a few guys, like obvious names that have been such a huge part of Team Europe, and you can't take away what they have done for Team Europe over that period of time and the success that they have had."

He added: "But yeah, who knows what will happen in the future. Sure, I feel like with the last Ryder Cup, Luke was definitely the right call, and you saw how much anybody that was part of that team knew that -- not even just emotionally, but the right thing, it felt like, for Luke to carry on.

"Players' opinions don't necessarily matter that much. 

"Like the captain will have earnt that right to be the captain but I think you have to have a strong current relationship with whoever is playing because it will struggle to work otherwise."

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