Jon Rahm has an idea for improving Olympic Golf, drawing inspiration from USA Basketball

Ahead of this week’s Olympic Men’s Golf Competition, Jon Rahm offered up a suggestion on how to improve the field.

LIV Golf’s Jon Rahm has obviously kept a close eye on Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and the rest of Team USA.

Speaking ahead of this week’s Olympic Men’s Golf Competition, which features a field of 60 players primarily determined by the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), Rahm offered a suggestion on how this tournament can improve for 2028, when Riviera in Los Angeles will host.

“I think you can allow the countries to pick themselves,” Rahm said Tuesday.

“There needs to be some guidelines, but like Team USA Basketball has the freedom to choose whoever they want.”

Back in April, USA Men’s Basketball Team Director Grant Hill unveiled the 12 players who would represent the Stars and Stripes in Paris this summer. Along with James and Durant, Hill personally selected Jayson Tatum, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, and Kawhi Leonard, among others, to join Team USA in the hopes of winning another Gold Medal. The USA Basketball Board of Directors then approved Hill’s decision-making, although New York Knick fans voiced their displeasure when Jalen Brunson missed out on making the team.

Alas, the selection process for golf worked much differently.

Each tournament had a strength of field rating based on the quality of players within the field, like the OWGR. That determined the number of points awarded at an event, which were then allocated to the players based on where they finished. Better performances in stronger events lead to more points.

But the OWGR does not award points at LIV Golf events, 54-hole competitions that include a team-play element. Therefore, LIV Golf players could only earn points in majors or other tournaments recognized by the OWGR, such as on the DP World Tour or Asian Tour.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Since LIV Golf’s inception in 2022, players on the Saudi-backed circuit have seen their rankings plummet. Consequently, many LIV Golf players have failed to qualify for majors; in this case, many did not make it into the Olympic field. However, seven LIV Golf players will tee it up this week at Le Golf National in Paris, the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup.

“I understand it’s a different circumstance, but I think you need to let each country choose who they want to play,” Rahm added.

“In the Olympics, yeah, you want the best players to be able to participate. In any tournament, you want the best players possible to represent their country. That’s all I can say. I really don’t know how else to frame it.”

Rahm added that he would like to see a team aspect at the next Olympiad.

“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,” Rahm said.

“I would love to actually, with a partner or somehow, whether as a combined sport or us playing together, to be able to represent Spain. 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?”

Joining Rahm this week in Paris is David Puig, who also plays on LIV Golf. Puig made it to the Olympics thanks to his performance at Pinehurst No. 2, where he made the cut to leapfrog fellow countryman Jorge Campillo in the OWGR and nab Spain’s final spot.

But Puig will compete against Rahm and the 58 others in the field in an individual stroke play competition. No team play is involved whatsoever, although discussions are ongoing on how to create a separate team event for Los Angeles in 2028.

Maybe a conversation about improving the selection process will take place, too. If one does, Rahm will want to participate.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.