Ryder Cup vice-captain makes bizarre Jon Rahm comment ahead of 2025 clash

Jon Rahm might be winless around the world this season, but the LIV Golf superstar has still yet to finish outside the top 10 in any of his LIV Golf League events since he joined the breakaway league at the start of 2024. 

So it was something of a surprise to hear European Ryder Cup vice-captain Edoardo Molinari this week play down the current form of two-time major champion Rahm with four months to go until the biennial dust-up against the United States. 

Yes, Rahm, 30, did not have his absolute A-game at The Masters last month, but to his credit he still finished a respectable T14 in golf's first major of the season.

And while he only chalked up one top-10 (The Open) in the majors last season, Rahm went on to show his class by winning twice at the back end of the LIV Golf League season en route to capturing the Individual Championship in his debut campaign. 

Rahm has yet to lift any silverware this season as we say, but the former World No.1 has notched eight straight top-10s including five top-six finishes, so it's most certainly not all doom and gloom. 

Only based on what Molinari, 44, had to say about Rahm's game this week, anyone would think he's been playing like Anthony Kim the past 12 months. 

"I think Jon loves the Ryder Cup so much that he will probably round into form later this summer, I'm pretty sure about it," Molinari told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast.

Molinari's one-liner on Rahm certainly appears to have ruffled feathers on golf social media.

The Italian, a three-time winner on the European Tour, is once again acting as one of Luke Donald's vice-captains at the Ryder Cup, just as he did in 2023. 

Scroll down to watch Molinari's comments to Sky Sports Golf, and check out the responses in the thread...

Although Rahm ranks 28th in the European Ryder Cup standings right now, as a result of LIV Golf League events remaining shut ouf receiving any valuable ranking points, the Spaniard will be assured of one of six captain's picks in Donald's team providing he stays fit and healthy until September. 

Donald will have six captain's picks, as will U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.

Molinari also touched on Matt Fitzpatrick, who is attempting to bounce back from a difficult run of results. 

Fitzpatrick has unthinkably slipped to 84th in the OWGR and 61st in the European Ryder Cup team standings right now after a very poor run of results around the world. 

The Englishman had missed two cuts in a row but he has finished T40 at The Masters and T38 at the RBC Heritage in his last two starts on Tour. 

To many critics, Fitzpatrick, who has played in three of the last four European Ryder Cup teams, is in a serious race against time to make Donald's team.

Not only have golf fans taken aim at Molinari's one-liner on Rahm, but they have also questioned his take on Fitzpatrick's apparent improved form, at least if two top-40 finishes are anything to get excited about. 

"Fitzy has been showing some decent signs in the last few tournaments," Molinari said of Fitzpatrick. 

Molinari added: "Then again, you know, some of them might miss, it's not like, it's very difficult to predict the whole Ryder Cup team.

"Like every year you feel like you have seven or eight guys that were easy to predict, and then you have a couple of ones that were like way left field, so I think it's going to be the same this time round we will hopefully have all our top guys in the best form of their life, but one way or another we'll have a strong team and some on there will hopefully be able to put up a fight against a very strong American side."

The Ryder Cup takes place at Bethpage Black in New York from 26-28 September.

Europe are defending champions having won by five points in Rome in 2023. 

Watch the full podcast episode below, and check out some of the responses in the thread: