RAHM & REASON WILL PREVAIL
Molinari backs peace talks and is ready to welcome back world No.3 to Ryder Cup team
RYDER CUP vice-captain Edoardo Molinari has claimed a deal will be reached to see LIV Golf stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton tee up for Europe next year.
And Masters champion Rahm said he wants “some type of peace” to reunite the game.
PGA Tour boss Jay Monahan yesterday confirmed “constructive” Bahamas peace talks between the Saudi Public Investment Fund boss Yasir Al-rumayyan and PGA Tour stars on Monday. Tiger Woods was among the six players involved in the talks.
World No.3 Rahm signed for LIV in a $600million deal in December – followed by his Ryder Cup team-mate Hatton.
Both are technically still eligible for Luke Donald’s team at Bethpage Black because they have not resigned from the DP World Tour.
But they can only currently qualify through the Majors and they would have to pay fines and serve suspensions. But Molinari said: “In two years, we will find a way to be able to pick them anyway.
“Someone like Rahm, whatever the cost, wants to play the Ryder Cup. So I don’t think he will resign from the European Tour.”
But Molinari (below) revealed another Ryder Cup star turned down the Saudi cash.
“I have always stayed living in Italy even at the cost of paying a bit more tax because I believe that
there is a quality of life that doesn’t have a price,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I don’t understand players who are 20 or 30 and risk throwing away their careers to go to LIV Golf. Of course, if they offer me 300million, it would change my life, but they haven’t come.
“Nicolai Hojgaard had a good offer, but turned it down because he knows that if he continues to play well, he will still earn a lot of money, but will be freer to make certain decisions and will be sure of playing the Majors.
“It is difficult to say no when faced with a lot of money, but if you make choices based only on money, you risk regretting them one day.”
In a teleconference from Augusta, Rahm said: “There’s a way of co-existing and, if there’s some type of union, I don’t know what that looks like. I just want to see again the best in the world being able to compete against the best in the world, whatever that looks like. If there is some type of peace achieved, it can actually push the game forward.”