Rahm speaks over Ryder Cup ruckus

Stenson was dramatically stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy earlier this week after the Swede confirmed that he was joining the Saudi-backed rebel golf league.

Both the European and the United States teams made it clear that players that joined the controversial exhibition-style series would relinquish an opportunity to represent their teams at the bi-annual event.

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Spain’s Sergio Garcia is one of the older European players who cannot play in the Ryder Cup anymore because he is going to quit the DP World Tour completely.

A number of his former European team-mates like Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and now Stenson also risk never representing their continent again or in the future becoming team vice captains.

Garcia’s record in the Ryder Cup is unrivalled and for Rahm, he’s disappointed that his Spanish counterpart is not going to play in the competition again.

"The Ryder Cup is the reason why my family and I began to play this sport and the reason why many others play golf," said Rahm via AFP.

"For what is happening to mean that the best player Europe has had (Garcia) can't play is something I find hard to understand and process.

"The event which gives golf most publicity all over the world is the Ryder Cup and that for this nonsense players like him can't play it, that angers me even more."

2023’s Ryder Cup in Rome will be poorer for the current situation with some of golf’s great team players unavailable for selection; however, this is the path that they have chosen, and the game and competition will remain despite their choices.

European captain at the most recent edition of the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits Padraig Harrington mentioned that the team have more than enough time to find a suitable replacement for Stenson with the competition still fifteen months away.