While speaking with GolfWRX, Edoardo Molinari, who was a vice captain for the European team in Rome last fall, and will be once again at Bethpage Black in 2025, explained what European stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will have to do to participate in the 2025 Ryder Cup.

The duo joined LIV Golf early this year, leaving their Ryder Cup futures in question.

“Well, basically nothing has changed from two years ago, which means that obviously Jon (Rahm) at the moment is still a European Tour member. They are European tour members and as long as they play their minimum, which is four DP World Tour events a year, then they’re eligible for the Ryder cup.

“It was the same two years ago when some of the guys that went to leave, they decided either to resign the membership or they didn’t play the minimum, so they were not eligible.

“But there were some guys that went and, you know, paid all the sanctions and then they were still eligible. So, it’s not only down to us, it’s more like, if they want to play, they know that they just need to play four events and not resign the membership and hopefully they will because everyone knows how good Jon and Tyrrell and, even some of the others that [joined LIV] and you want to be able to pick from anyone.

“I think there’s been a lot of discussions going on behind the scenes and conversations and hopefully they will remain members.

“I think Jon is obviously very, very keen with the, with the Seve and Olazabal legacy to, to keep playing other Ryder cups. Tyrrell is the same. I mean, the thing is, I think the Europeans they really love and enjoy the Ryder Cup. They, they look forward to it every, every two years is like if you ask any one of them, now they’re already thinking about Bethpage, which is why I’m very confident that John and Tyrrell especially will do everything they can to remain members.”

Both Rahm and Hatton have remained DP World Tour members, but neither of them has played in a DP World Tour event since joining LIV thus far.

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On Wednesday, tennis legend Roger Federer posted a video on his Instagram page of his golf swing on the driving range.

 

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In the replies to the post, Federer got an interesting offer from the best women’s golfer in the world, Nelly Korda.

Some other sports stars also chimed in.

Federer’s swing looks as about impressive as you’d expect from one of the greatest professional sportsmen of his generation.

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Winning a Ryder Cup on the road is one of the most difficult tasks in all of professional sports. The last time it happened was in 2012 at Medinah which was famously dubbed “The Miracle at Medinah” because the European team had to make an amazing comeback to win.

Overall, since 1979, Europe has won four times away on foreign soil (1987, 1995, 2004 and 2012), and the United States has won twice away on foreign soil (in 1981 and 1993).

While speaking with GolfWRX, Edoardo Molinari, who was a vice captain for the European team in Rome last fall, explained why he believes the Europeans have been better on the road than the United States teams.

“Good question. I think it’s a combination of different reasons. I think one, we are more used to travel a lot, like as a European tour player, you go to South Africa, you go to Australia, you go to China, like half of our season is away from Europe, and even when it’s in Europe it’s like a different country. So, you’re not playing in your home country the whole time.”

“So, when it comes to going to the U.S., it’s actually better than a lot of other countries that, that you go to and it’s not a hurdle in itself that we need to overcome.”

“And then I think the other part is like… it’s been talked about a lot but the team chemistry, how much everyone really likes each other and try to help each other. I mean, it’s amazing like some of the stories from the Ryder Cup week you always hear of guys like Rory going to Nicolai (Hojgaard) to Bob (MacIntyre).”

“I mean, literally Rory treating Nicolai and Bob who [he must have seen] four or five times in his life before Ryder Cup week, and all of a sudden in the practice trip that we went to two weeks before he was [treating] Nicolai like his younger brother and Bob like his best friend.

“It really makes you think about how much Rory and John and, and those guys, they really care about Ryder Cup, they really try to, you know, try to help the younger guys and all of a sudden that elevates the whole team. I think especially when you go away, that’s massive.

“That’s, that’s very, very important because all of a sudden you might be a rookie playing in front of an away crowd. Your first Ryder Cup, it’s a very uncomfortable situation. But if you have someone like Rory or Jon saying, ‘I’ve been here before, this is going to be fine, you’re good enough’ and, and they actually behave during the week and during the weeks before in a way to make you feel part of a family. All of a sudden, I think it’s it really uplifts all the younger kids and if you play as a team, with everyone together, you can achieve some amazing things.”

Luke Donald announced in January that Molinari would once again be one of his Vice captains as the European team heads to a hostile New York environment at Bethpage Black in 2025.

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