Admin September 18, 2024
Bryson DeChambeau’s dreams of returning to the Ryder Cup may be dashed because of a bizarre loophole, according to a report.
Per Telegraph Sport, DeChambeau may not be eligible for selection in next year’s contest at Bethpage Black because a ‘grace period’ with paying dues to the PGA of America expired in June.
The PGA of America runs the Ryder Cup in conjunction with the DP World Tour.
The governing body, which also runs the PGA Championship, is entirely separate to the PGA Tour.
Telegraph Sport’s James Corrigan stated:
“In short, anybody who had paid their yearly PGA dues before June 30, 2022, was in fact, eligible to play in the Italian capital because of an obscure ‘grace period’ that ran to June of this year. However, that loophole has now expired and, presumably, other provisions will need to be made if the rebels are to play.”
In response to the claim, the PGA of America said they had ‘nothing to share’ about the situation at this time.
The loophole also has a direct impact on Brooks Koepka.
Koepka became the first LIV Golf player to represent the U.S. in the Ryder Cup when he was given a captain’s pick by Zach Johnson for the 2023 contest in Rome.
Johnson’s team were defeated by a margin of five points at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
DeChambeau has played in two Ryder Cups.
The American made his debut in the biennial contest at Le Golf National, Paris, in 2018.
He played two fourball matches and one singles match, all of which he lost.
In both of those fourball matches he was paired with Tiger Woods and they were defeated twice by the formidable pairing of Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari.
DeChambeau bounced back in Whistling Straits two years later and went 2-0-1 as Steve Stricker’s Team USA routed Padraig Harrington’s Europe 19-9.
He famously defeated Sergio Garcia in the Sunday singles, setting the tone of the match by driving the green on the first hole and holing the putt for an eagle.
DeChambeau won the match 3&2.
The 2024 U.S. Open champion joined LIV Golf for more than $100m two years ago.
Since then he has consistently complained about LIV players’ ability to qualify for majors owing to a lack of world ranking points.
Bryson DeChambeau
He also was upset about missing out on the Olympics in the summer.
The 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team will be led by Keegan Bradley.
Bradley has stressed his desires to have the best team possible, no matter where golfers ply their trade.
“I’m going to have the best 12 players,” he previously said.
“So the PGA of America … we’re going to have the 12 best players, so they need to figure that out, if that’s their problem.”
