Jon Rahm has urged the Olympics to change its qualifying criteria after some of his LIV Golf allies, including Bryson DeChambeau, missed out on this year's tournament.
Rahm, 29, will represent Spain at Le Golf National in Paris with the tournament getting underway on Thursday. The two-time major champion will be joined by fellow LIV Golf star David Puig, but many of their counterparts on the breakaway tour will have to watch from home.
DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is the most notable absentee in Paris. The U.S. has sent a four-strong team to the Olympics – Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa – after they all finished the qualifying period in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
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The OWGR is the basis of the qualification route to the games, but LIV is unsanctioned by the body and its players do not receive ranking points for their performances on the Saudi Arabia-bankrolled circuit. Its members have plummeted down the rankings since the breakaway league launched in 2022, forcing DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Brooks Koepka and others to miss out on a place in Paris.
Rahm believes the power should be put in the hands of competing nations to select their players, rather than the OWGR. He also called for the Olympics to incorporate team golf in future.
“Allow the countries to pick themselves,” Rahm said at his pre-tournament press conference. “There needs to be some guidelines, but Team USA basketball has freedom to choose whoever they want.
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“I understand it’s a different circumstance, but I think you need to let each country choose who they want to play, and in the future, I would also like to see some team aspect in the Olympics, as well, right.
“I mean, we are here representing Spain, so I would love to be able to represent Spain, as a partner or somehow, whether as a combined sport or us playing together. That would be extremely nice to share the stage with another player, to do something different, to maybe what we do every other day, right.”
Rahm heads to Le Golf National full of confidence after winning his first LIV Golf title at the weekend, outlasting Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton and Smith to finish top of the pile at JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire, England.
Despite heading into the event with high hopes of competing for the gold medal, he believes the quality of the event is diminished by the qualifying process.
“You want the best players to be able to participate," Rahm added. "Any tournament, you want the best players possible to be representing their country. That’s all I can say. I really don’t know how else to frame it.
“Obviously the qualifying criteria might need to change but that is a job for the people that are a lot more knowledgeable on things like that.”
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