The Ryder Cup celebrates its 44th edition this weekend, from Friday 29 September to Sunday 1 October, on the Roman course of Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome. And Jon Rahm will be there as one of the mainstays of the European team led by captain Luke Donald. The goal, of course, is to regain the title after the heavy defeat in 2021 on American soil.
Jon Rahm, number three in the World Ranking, plays his third Ryder – his balance is one won, Paris, 2018, and another lost, Whistling Straits 2021 – well seconded by four other world Top 15: we are talking about the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy (2), the Norwegian Viktor Hovland (4), and the Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton (11) and Matt Fitzpatrick (13). These five golfers, by quality and experience, are called to pull the continental team in the third start of the tournament outside the British Isles.
The group is completed with the English Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose, the Scot Robert MacIntyre, the Swede Ludvig Åberg, the Dane Nicolai Højgaard, the Irish Shane Lowry and the Austrian Sepp Straka.
Jon Rahm is not the only Spanish representative in Rome; José María Olazábal will also contribute to the mission as vice-captain.
For its part, the American side, led by captain Zach Johnson, presents a squad formed by Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Xander Schaffele, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. In total, we are talking about a team made up of no more and no less than eight of the world’s Top 15.
The task facing Europe on Rome’s par 71 is Herculean: to avenge the painful defeat of 2021, when they went down 19-9, the highest score recorded since 1979, when golfers from continental Europe came into the game. In Whistling Straits Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, absent this time after so many years of being decisive, were saved from the burning.
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