Niklas Norgaard. Laurie Canter. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. Jorge Campillo. John Parry. Dan Bradbury. No, we are not playing a game of “Name a random European professional golfer.” We just listed a collection of names who are ahead of Jon Rahm in the European Ryder Cup standings as of PGA Championship week. It’s true. Go see it for yourself.

That isn’t meant to disparage any of those players, all of whom are having solid years. It’s meant to highlight the fact that Rahm, once believed to be a plug and play at the Ryder Cup as long as he wanted to be, is a distant 29th in the European standings, 17 spots outside the top 12 and 23 outside the top six automatic qualifiers. Obviously, Rahm being on the LIV Golf circuit, where there are no Ryder Cup points or OWGR points, plays a big role here. Though Tyrrell Hatton, a fellow LIV golfer, is currently fourth in the standings, much of that due to his success in the limited amount of DP World Tour events he still plays in as well as the major championships over the last few years.

Of course, Rahm does have a T-7 at last year’s Open Championship to his name, but he missed the cut at the PGA Championship last year and then missed the U.S. Open at Pinehurst entirely, two key early events in the Ryder Cup standings. The theory with Rahm, though, is that he’s simply so good and so crucial to the team chemistry that he will be selected no matter what. Two majors, 11 PGA Tour wins, 10 DP World Tour wins and a 6-3-3 record at the biennial event will earn you that right.

Still, though, 29th in the standings is 29th in the standings. And while Rahm has top-10’d in every LIV event he has played in this year, he has not won. If he doesn’t show some real form in the remaining major champions, there is a world where him being “in or out” could become a legitimate conversation, as crazy as that sounds.

On Tuesday at Quail Hollow, this topic came up, a reporter asking Rahm if European captain Luke Donald has given Rahm an assurance that he’s on the team regardless of how the rest of the year goes or where he finishes in the standings. Rahm was not taking that bait.

“That’s a question for Luke,” Rahm said, chuckling. “It’s his team. Hopefully I can qualify and we don’t have to question it, but, I would like to personally think that I am. But, it’s not up to me, is it?”

The reporter asked again—has Donald said “don’t worry, you’re in”?

“You’re going to have to ask Luke that same question. It’s not up to me to say,” Rahm said.

Here’s the full exchange:

If you want to read between the lines there, you could argue Rahm is alluding to not having spoken to Donald about this topic. Or you could simply make the case that Rahm just doesn’t want to create a headline and/or piss off any player who is fighting to make the team and will now know there is already one less spot available. To steal a line from his former Ryder Cup teammate, Rory McIlroy, play better and all of this will take care of itself.

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Main Image: Andrew Redington