While they commended the talents, and accomplishments, of Jon Rahm, several European Tour players felt that Jordan Smith was a more deserved winner of the Tour’s Rookie of the Year award, simply based on his “commitment” as a full time player.
"It's something I'm really proud of"
Jon Rahm reflects on winning Rookie of the Year honours.
? https://t.co/C21U5Sr1EL pic.twitter.com/qpTNgfJ21u
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 14, 2017
Led by players Richard Bland and Eddie Pepperell, a handful of tour players took to Twitter to voice their displeasure with the Tour’s snubbing of Smith.
Here’s a round of the tweets:
Englishman Richard Bland notes Smith’s “support” of the tour “week in week out.”
Sorry @EuropeanTour you’ve made a mistake here! @Jsmithgolf should be rookie of the year! Supported the tour week in week out & wins a big event!
— Richard Bland (@blandy73) November 14, 2017
Many players retweeted Bland’s take, including stars Matthew Fitzpatrick and Ross Fisher.
Thomas Pieters also backed Smith, and jokingly called for Eddie Pepperell (the Grayson Murray of the European Tour) to chime in.
https://twitter.com/Thomas_Pieters/status/930511758594363392
… In total agreement with Blandy here. I considered tweeting my thoughts earlier but didn’t want to cause a stir. https://t.co/4PcQRDbHRf
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) November 14, 2017
Golf Monthly noted that if you remove Rahm’s dual PGA/European starts (Majors and WGCs), Rahm only played in five true Euro Tour events, whereas Smith teed it up in 29 regular events, which included a win, four top 10s, and 23 made cuts.
