Rahm’s halfway cut is hard to stomach

JON RAHM’S curious decision to play the week before the Ryder Cup — the only player on either side to do so — backfired spectacularly in California when he missed the halfway cut on Friday.

It followed a stomach bug in the build-up that the world No 1 blamed on ‘a long and draining season’. With the most long and draining week of all to come for Europe’s best player, how bizarre he wouldn’t follow everyone else’s example and rest up for Whistling Straits. It was only his second missed cut of the year and his first since May.

The blessing in disguise about missing out on the last two days, of course, is that at least he’s been able to recharge to some extent over the weekend, following a ramshackle performance littered with missed greens in regulation and very poor putting by his standards. Padraig Harrington might want to look away now.

‘It’s very simple — it wasn’t my best ball-striking wise,’ he said. ‘I could have focused better, visualised better, while I left a lot of shots on the greens.

‘I think with my stomach issues I wasn’t as rested as I could have been, but I’m feeling good today. Now at least I get a couple of extra days to rest and figure out

what’s going on with my swing.’ Meanwhile, Ryder Cup legend Paul McGinley believes that Harrington could regret not picking Justin Rose as one of his wildcards.

The Sky Sports golf pundit, who featured in three consecutive winning teams and captained Europe to success in 2014, is convinced Englishman Rose would have improved the visiting party at Whistling Straits.

‘For sure Justin Rose would have made this team a bit stronger,’ McGinley said. ‘There’s no doubt about that, particularly after his two top 10s in his last two tournaments.

‘But I don’t think this is a time to debate that. We have 12 players and three picks that I don’t think you can argue against any of them being included.’

Harrington picked Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and rookie Shane Lowry as his wildcards. McGinley revealed the Europe captain spent up to two and a half hours with his vice-captains in a final selection meeting.

‘I don’t think Shane was the reason for the delay,’ he said. ‘In the last three months he has been one of the leading European players in America. He is a major champion too, and I do not regard him as a rookie.’

McGinley added: ‘We are really up against it. The bookies have us at 2-1 and I think that is fair given the world rankings.’