Shortly after Rahm moved to LIV last December, Rory McIlroy said the European Tour “will have to rewrite the rules on Ryder Cup qualification” because “we definitely miss and need John at Bethpage.”
Europe's last visit to the US in 2021 saw them beaten 19-9 at Whistling Straits before avenging that defeat with a 16½-11½ victory in Rome (Rahm and Hatton were unbeaten in their four matches), but the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York promises to be another tough challenge.
But Donald told BBC Sport on Tuesday that he “is not going to get to a situation where we are going to target specific people in order to change the rules.”
He added: “The policy is very clear that you either pay the fine or appeal and within the appeal period you can compete in some DP World Tour events, so John fully understands what is required.”
“He's hoping to compete in some events and qualify. Hopefully he can pay the fine or appeal and qualify to be on my team because I would love for him to be a part of it.”
Rahm is scheduled to play in two LIV events this year, in Chicago from Sept. 13-15 and then a week later in Dallas.
When announcing his move to LIV in December, Rahm said he wanted to maintain his DP World Tour membership and spoke about “how important the Spanish Open is” to him.
He has won the tournament a record three times and this year's edition takes place in Madrid from September 26-29, with the Andalusia Masters also taking place in his home country in October.
