Shane Lowry has welcomed the news that Jon Rahm has decided to lodge an appeal against the fines imposed against him by the DP World Tour for competing on LIV Golf stating that a European Ryder Cup team that includes the Spaniard is much stronger.
Rahm, a two-time major winner, had until Thursday afternoon to either pay his fines or lodge an appeal against them in order to be deemed eligible to enter the Spanish Open in Madrid, which will be the second of four DP World Tour events required in order to remain in the frame for Ryder Cup selection at Bethpage in 2025.
And the news coming out of DP World Tour HQ at Wentworth is that Rahm has indeed appealed against the fines meaning that, for the moment at least, he is back in the frame and his entries to the Spanish Open and Andalucia Masters have been accepted.
“Jon Rahm has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the acciona Open de Espana presented by Madrid later this month,” said a DP World Tour spokesperson.
Speaking after his opening round at the Amgen Irish Open, Lowry, who now looks set to line out alongside Rahm in Madrid in two weeks, was pleased to hear that his Ryder Cup teammate will be eligible to compete next year.
“A Ryder Cup team with Jon Rahm is always better so we can be pretty happy with that. As long as he goes on and makes the team now we can be pretty happy but, look, the thing with all this is I am pretty confident that Luke and Eduardo and whoever else is involved will pick the 12 best players possible to go to Bethpage.
“I really hope I’m in those 12 best players. If I’m not I’ll be cheering them on or doing whatever but, whether it be Jon Rahm or myself or Rory or any of the guys that are trying to make the team, I just hope it is the 12 best players. And I hope we go and beat them.”
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald hailed it as a victory.
“Yeah obviously from my standpoint very happy to hear he made that decision. I know he was sitting on the fence a little bit, and glad that he’s done that and being allowing to play and create some time for things in the world of golf to hopefully figure themselves out.
“I’ll take today as a nice little victory for me personally to know that Jon is eligible and can play his three events now.
“What happens in the future, I can’t tell. What happens in 15 months, I think all of us thought something more would happen.”
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