Jon Rahm has lodged an appeal against the sanctions imposed on him by the DP World Tour for playing the LIV Golf League, opening the door for him to play in the Spanish Open and other European circuit events until an independent panel decides whether he must pay the fines.
Rahm’s formal appeal was a pivotal move because it allows him a chance to reach the minimum four DP World Tour starts required to be considered for the next year’s Ryder Cup.
Rahm joined the Saudi-funded league late last year for a signing bonus reported to be in excess $300 million.
Other players who defected to LIV Golf, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk, are going through the same appeal and are allowed into tournaments as the process plays out. There
Hatton played the Betfred British Masters two weeks ago and both he and Rahm are entered in the Spanish Open, the Dunhill Links Championship and the Andalucia Masters. That would give Rahm four starts because the Olympics count toward the minimum.
“I don’t intend to pay the fines”
Rahm is primarily opposed to being fined for playing LIV events opposite tournaments he had never played or did not intend to play. Among DP World Tour events opposite LIV Golf this year were stops in Bahrain, South Africa, Japan, China and the Czech Republic.
“I don’t intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen,” said Rahm, who won $22 million on Sunday after winning LIV Golf Chicago and the season-long individual title.
The appeals process is the same as it was when several members of the DP World Tour first joined LIV Golf in 2022. An independent panel, Sport Resolutions, ruled in April 2023 the players committed serious breaches and the DP World Tour was within its rights to penalize them. On those grounds it would seem unlikely that Hatton and Rahm’s appeal will be treated any differently.
However, like many LIV golfers who currently harbour ambitions of playing in the 2025 Ryder Cup, Rahm will be hoping that the golf’s landscape will have changed before next September’s matches at Bethpage Black. Executives with the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia met last week in New York to continue negotiations about the PIF becoming a minority investor in PGA Tour Enterprises and what that would mean for players on both sides.
“I’m glad Jon decided to appeal, and he can play his events in which he wants to play and be eligible,” European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said when asked about the impasse. “I know the Ryder Cup means so much to him, and I’m sure that was a massive factor in his decision.
“He has his thoughts and he doesn’t agree with the fines and paying fines, especially for events that he would never have played on the DP World Tour. But those rules are the rules, and they were certainly in place when he signed with LIV.”