Jon Rahm lifts the Ryder Cup trophy during Team Europe’s 2023 victory.
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BOLINGBROOK, Ill. – The Ryder Cup is more than a year away, but Jon Rahm’s involvement remains as murky as ever. He is alone in this endeavor and he knows it.
Rahm has set his sights on playing three DP World Tour events in the next six weeks, which might normally be an easy addition to the schedule, but this is not a normal time. Also in his next six weeks, Rahm has two LIV events and a new baby joining his family. But before any of that happens, Rahm needs to do something about the fines he’s facing from the DP World Tour. Either pay the fines or appeal them, as Tyrrell Hatton recently did. Otherwise, Rahm won’t play 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black next fall. (Obligatory star: We live in fluid times. Regulations may change. Rory McIlroy basically asked for things to change Immediate Rahm dedicated to LIV Golf.)
It has been discussed with increasing frequency as the summer progresses. Rahm must play four tournaments this season on the DP World Tour to maintain his membership for 2025, which is his mandatory ticket to become a member of the Ryder Cup team. So far, he has only played one, the Olympics in France, which counts towards his total. According to Rahm, he has signed up for three tournaments to meet that minimum, starting with the Spanish Open in three weeks, Dunhill Links a week later and the Andalucia Masters, also in Spain.
According to the DP World Tour, however, Rahm is currently ineligible.
“Jon has outstanding sanctions for violating the DP World Tour’s conflicting rule,” a Tour spokesman said. “Until those outstanding sanctions are resolved, he is ineligible to play in a DP World Tour event.”
These “sanctions” are suspensions and fines that have come his way for every start he’s made at LIV Golf. From the earliest days of the pro-golf civil war era, has released the DP world tour one-tour bans and £100,000 fines for its members who play tournaments without conflicting notices of events from the Tour. While it is understood that Rahm has enough open weeks in his schedule to make room for the one-week suspensions, he is clearly not interested in paying the fines.
“I’m not a big fan of penalties,” Rahm said from the LIV Golf Singles Championship in suburban Chicago, where he and Joaquin Niemann held a joint news conference Wednesday.
“I think I’ve been open about it. I have no intention of paying the fines and we continue to try to have a discussion with (DPWT) about how we can make that happen. I’ve said it many times, I don’t go to the Spanish Open for glory or anything. I think it’s my duty to Spanish golf to be there, and I also want to play in Sotogrande.
“At that point, it would almost be a disservice not just to me, but to Spanish golf, to not let me play. So yeah, that’s why we’re trying to talk to them and make it happen. I would also like to play in Dunhill (Link Championship). I have a good friend who asked me to play and Johan has been a great, great ambassador for the game of golf. I would love to be able to play all those events.”
At this point, Rahm is facing a rules-are-rules situation. But not completely hopeless. Rahm’s Legion 13 teammate Tyrrell Hatton has faced the same battle, but was allowed to play without facing a penalty because he appealed the sanctions, hitting in a mid-point, somewhat unspecified penalty that allowed him Hatton to enter Betfred. British Masters earlier this month. It’s the same thing that will allow him to play the events Rahm is seeking later this month. But it’s a formality Hatton has requested that Rahm apparently hasn’t yet. He has not appealed his sanctions.
Do we have a dead end for ourselves? That’s how it looks. But there is a deadline for all this. Rahm admitted that the entry time for places in the Spanish Open closes at noon on Thursday. He may have a grace period during which he can pay fines or appeal in the coming days, but the Spanish Open dates remain unchanged. It starts in two weeks, in Madrid.
“I think not only do I have to play those three, but I want to play those events,” Rahm said. They are fun. My last experience at Dunhill I didn’t play well, so maybe I’ll have some redemption, although being the fourth week in a row after having a baby might be a bit much, especially for the Scottish weather and Carnoustie. But we’re still looking forward to some really fun golf ahead.”
Golf fans may recognize parts of this situation, especially LIV golf fans. A number of LIV’s first commitments were supporters of Europe’s top Ryder Cup teams. Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia all played in past Ryder Cups but were not included in the 2023 Cup after resigning their membership.
Garcia’s final days as a member were marred by a dispute over unpaid fines. Lee Westwood has admitted he has more than $1 million in unpaid fines from the DP World Tour earlier this year, penalties which, until he makes good on them, have banned him from competing in the Senior Open Championship.
Poulter, who was one of the leading players to appeal the sanctions in the summer of 2022, also resigned shortly after losing that appeal in April 2023. Will Hatton’s appeal meet a similar fate?
“That side of her is a little messy,” Hatton told Golf Digest two weeks ago.
