Padraig Harrington has a deep meaning of Europe’s internal work teambut even the 2021 Ryder Cup captain doesn’t know how to approach the looming issue facing one of its biggest stars.
Last week, the DP World Tour conditional discharges were granted to eight members of LIV Golfallowing them to play in LIV events without being fined by the DP World Tour. The eight players, including Tyrrell Hatton, agreed to pay their previous fines, drop all appeals and play in other DP World Tour events. As long as those LIV Golf members support the termination of the agreement, they will remain DP World Tour members in good standing, allowing them to remain eligible for the Ryder Cup. The deal was made between DP World Tour and each individual, with LIV Golf not acting as an intermediary.
Jon Rahm, who has said his DP World Tour fines exceed $3 million, was not among the eight, putting his Ryder Cup future in doubt.
Speaking at the launch of Ireland’s International Sports Diplomacy Strategy, Harrington was asked how Team Europe should handle the Jon Rahm situation if a UK arbitration tribunal rules that Rahm must pay the fines he has accrued since joining LIV Golf at the end of 2023 – fines Rahm has said he will not pay. Harrington didn’t have an answer, but he knows whoever is captain, whether it’s Luke Donald or some fresh blood, will try to find a way to get Rahm into the team for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor.
“I don’t know the politics of it. But if you’re the Ryder Cup captain, you’re going to do whatever you can to get him on your team,” Harrington said. Irish Times. “I don’t know where the rank and file is. I don’t know where the tour committee (of the DP World Tour) is sitting. I don’t know where the administration is sitting … the difficulty now is, what’s the next step of the European Tour? They’ve got these guys involved. How do you tell those guys, now we’re doing something else if it’s the other option?”
While Rahm’s Ryder Cup status appears cloudy, Harrington doesn’t see a universe where one of Team Europe’s founding stars isn’t leading the charge to win a third straight Ryder Cup.
“But there’s no way the captain and the team want to go to a Ryder Cup without Jon Rahm, and you know, maybe he’s counting on that, and he can count on it now,” Harrington said. “There is no doubt about it. I have a very good relationship with Jon, as I do with all my team-mates in 2021. He will be my team-mate forever and I will do everything I can to support him and help him going forward.”
At LIV’s season opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Rahm said he was encouraged by PROGRESS with DP World Tour as they worked for it fixed an issue that Rahm was aware of when he decided to leave LIV.
“I personally would say I don’t know much about this,” Rahm said. “Obviously, I think in the beginning, the managers will take care of that early on. I don’t know what the negotiations look like. Obviously, they’ll go to the players individually to make different deals. I don’t know what it might be or what it’s going to look like, but I’m happy to see that I’m looking for a way forward so that LIV players can be penalized and not play in the tournament.”
Rahm and Hatton were eligible to play in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black because their complaint had not yet been heard. Hatton has agreed to drop his complaint as part of a settlement with DP World Tour, but Rahm will continue to wait for the arbitration tribunal to hear his case. In 2023, a UK arbitration tribunal ruled that the DP World Tour could impose sanctions on members who breached its conflicting event rules.
At the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, Rory McIlroy didn’t mince words when asked what Rahm and Hatton should do. McIlroy noted that the Europeans beat the Americans hard at Bethpage to get a paycheck to play in the Ryder Cup. For the five-time major winner, the answer for Rahm and Hatton is simple: cut the check and get on with it.
“Look, that’s my opinion,” McIlroy said at the Dubai Desert Classic. “We pushed hard with the Americans to get paid to play in the Ryder Cup, and we also said we would pay to play in Ryder Cups. There are two guys who can prove that. Very good.”
While Jon Rahm and other members of LIV Golf have complained that the DP World Tour fines are unnecessary, McIlroy doesn’t believe they have an argument. Rules are rules.
“I think any organization or any members’ organization like this has the right to keep its own rules and regulations,” McIlroy said at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. “What DP World Tour is doing is following its rules and regulations. We, as members, sign a document at the beginning of each year that makes you agree to these rules and regulations.
“The people who made the choice to go to LIV knew what they were in for. So, I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”
For now, Rahm’s fines will continue to accrue until his appeal is heard. The DP World Tour offered a way to shake it all off. But Rahm isn’t budging, leaving a Ryder Cup question hanging in the air as the golf world begins to turn its attention to Adare Manor in 2027.
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