Jon Rahm withdraws DPWT sanctions appeal. But his attitude has not changed

JOHANNESBURG – As he races this week in South Africa, Jon Rahm continues to rack up suspensions and fines from the DP World Tour for competing in a “conflict” LIV event.

The conflict? DP World Tour members, similar to PGA Tour members, sign regulations at the beginning of each season, agreeing not to play in televised golf events in the same weeks as DPWT events—at least not without a DPWT-approved release. Since the DPWT is holding the Hainan Classic in China this week, LIV South Africa is considered controversial, even if, as Rahm has pointed out many times, he wouldn’t have considered playing in China anyway.

While this may be old news — Rahm has received this treatment for years — what has changed is that he is no longer appealing the sanctions, the DPWT confirmed to GOLF.com. On March 10, Rahm formally withdrew his 18-month appeal, but clarified to the DPWT that he had no interest in paying his fines, which have risen north of $3 million.

The appeal, which had dragged on without significant progress, allowed Rahm to enter DPWT events for the past 18 months without issue, as well as compete in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. While the appeal existed, Rahm remained (technically, at least) a member in good standing with the tournament. The Euros won a Ryder Cup away, Rahm contributed immensely, and then he had one of his best offseasons. But now, at the start of the big championship season, the deadlock continues and in different circumstances.

At the end of February, DPWT announced eight LIV players had signed conditional releases that would prevent them from receiving sanctions for playing LIV events. It was an olive branch of sorts, offered for the first time and not necessarily a precedent. Something changes every few months in the world of golf. That deal was only for 2026 and each player’s release included different terms. Those eight will have to play a minimum number of larger events this season — between six and eight non-major tournaments — to retain membership. The minimum for non-LIV members is four non-majors. They will also have to play SPECifiC events prescribed by the DPWT and impose any outstanding fines. Rahm countered with offer for multiple reasons – especially that he would have to play six non-major, upping his annual total to 24 starts — and talked about it in a press conference two weeks ago.

“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now,” Rahm said, “but it just seems like in a way (the DPWT is) using us — they’re using our influence in the tournament and fining us and trying to take advantage of what we have to offer. They’re just, in a way, extorting players like me and young players who have nothing to do with the politics of the game.

“So I don’t like the situation and I’m not going to agree to that.”

By young players, Rahm means the likes of Tom McKibbon, David Puig and Elvis Smylie, all three of whom are now expected to make trips to India this year to make good on their releases. Smylie, in the last three weeks, has followed the LIV route from Hong Kong to Singapore in South Africa. He will now double up for the DPWT’s Hero Indian Open next week in New Delhi.

A handful of DPWT specific events are expected to benefit from the presence of LIV players. The Turkish Airlines Open at the end of April, for example, should see some LIV players squeeze in some of their commitments in Eastern Europe before flying to Washington DC for their next LIV event. The Soudal Open, in Belgium, should also see some LIV players on its cards, although the event is the week after the PGA Championship and the week before the LIV is played in Korea. For those who agreed to parole, the schedule fills up quickly.

Importantly, in April 2023 — before Rahm was even a LIV golfer — The DPWT won an arbitration award in a similar appeal for sanctions by Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and a handful of others. It was legally ruled that the sanctions were reasonable for the tournament to maintain its business as a membership organization. And while the regulations haven’t changed in the three years since then, the landscape of the golf world has. The warring voyages apparently came together for a Framework Agreement in June 2023, but an agreement never materialized. LIV Golf events now receive world ranking points for their top 10 finishers, which was not the case three years ago. Major championships have created new exemptions in recent years for LIV’s top performers, which was also not the case three years ago.

One side of the argument is that – given golf’s displaced structures – the DPWT should be more willing to grant concessions to LIV golfers during conflict weeks without having to ask for more in return. For months it looked like the argument would be tested in court, but that is no longer the case. On March 4, DPWT CEO Guy Kinnings said Rahm had two options: see the complaint or meet the sanctions. On March 10, the complaint was withdrawn, but Rahm has refused to waive the fines.

“As you can imagine, all we’re looking to do is do the best for the tournament as a whole, for the membership as a whole, and the deals we’ve reached will support the tournament,” Kinnings said. “It will help improve the product and that will lead to happier promoters, sponsors, broadcasters. It’s our job to deal with those rules that are in place and have been tested and proven to be fair, and that’s what we’re doing.”

One reason – and arguably the biggest – that maintaining good standing with the DPWT is important is because 2027 is a Ryder Cup year. To compete on behalf of Ryder Cup Europe next fall in Ireland, players must be active members of the DP World Tour this year, compete in the minimum number of events and settle outstanding fines. The Ryder Cup is an important leverage point for the DPWT. The cup is a massive part of the tournament’s financial support – so much so that the tournament might struggle to exist without it – so naturally it’s a major part of the discussion surrounding any LIV golfer who dares to miss it.

Rahm has not wavered in his stance. He wants to be a member of the DPWT and he wants to play the normal minimum of events. He simply doesn’t believe he should be sanctioned for events he wouldn’t have considered competing in anyway, and doesn’t want to see his minimum commitment raised beyond, say, Rory McIlroy or Tommy Fleetwood. The DPWT, on the other hand, is simply trying to uphold the rules that all its members agree on. Somewhere in between is a path that some LIV players have found suitable, not all.

Lost in the shuffle of the late February announcement, Rahm isn’t the only LIV golfer to decline these conditional releases. South Africans Branden Grace and Dean Burmester both entered into discussions with the DPWT while members earlier this year, but both refused parole and ultimately resigned their membership. (They are not eligible for the Ryder Cup as they are not European.)

Rahm has not resigned his membership, which pulls us all into a time machine, back to September 2024, right before he filed the appeal. Rahm was racking up fines and suspensions throughout that summer, and it looked as if the DPWT would not allow him to play the Spanish Open, in his home country, that fall.

Rahm has played the Spanish Open every year since turning pro, winning three times. He considers it his “duty” to return to his open house. He hopes to play it again this fall, among three other DPWT events in September and October: the Amgen Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the Dunhill Links Championship.

In a world without sanctions, Rahm would reach his minimum of four (non-major) events for membership, as he has done the past two years, and sail into 2027 as a potential member of Ryder Cup Europe. But that’s not the current reality of the golf world. Rahm understands this. He’s aware that the layoff could stop him from playing in Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team next fall, and he’s comfortable with it. He is fully aware that Spanish golf legend Seve Ballesteros once sat out a Ryder Cup through a dispute with the DPWT. To avoid that, Rahm sees a way forward, but it doesn’t involve him playing additional events.

“I said (to the DPWT), funny enough, I lowered (my minimum) to four events, as the minimum says, and I’ll sign tonight,” Rahm said earlier this month. “They haven’t agreed to it. I just refuse to play six events. I don’t want to, and that’s not what the rules say.”

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