Amid all the joy of an epic Ryder Cup triumph and the paeans to the tight bonds of the European players, there was one elephant in the team room. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, so central to the victory at Bethpage, could soon find themselves barred from the next clash in Ireland in 2027.
The fate of the duo rests on the outcome of their appeal against sanctions imposed by the DP World Tour for playing in conflicting LIV Golf events. Lose and they will have to pay huge fines if they want to play the minimum number of DP World Tour events to keep their cards and, hence, earn Ryder Cup eligibility.
It is a mess that the DP World Tour, which co-stages the Ryder Cup under the banner Ryder Cup Europe, was happy to kick down the road until after Bethpage. In the meantime the LIV duo were allowed to play on the DP World Tour pending their appeals, and Hatton qualified for the team while Rahm received a captain’s pick.
Rahm and Hatton were central to Europe’s victory at Bethpage Black
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The appeals will eventually be heard by Sport Resolutions, a London-based independent arbitration service, but no date has been set and The Times understands that lawyers from both sides are still working on their cases.
It has long been clear that the DP World Tour was happy to use the appeal loophole to get Rahm and Hatton on the team. They forged a brilliant foursomes pairing in New York, with Rahm a standout player over the first two days and Hatton one of only two unbeaten Europeans.
The players themselves are not overly concerned by the threat of being excluded from Adare Manor. On Monday, at Europe’s team hotel, Hatton said: “To be honest, it hasn’t crossed my mind. I would like to think that I’ll be eligible with how it works out. I’m hoping that it’s in a positive way for me to still play on the DP World Tour and in future Ryder Cups.
“Yes, I moved to LIV at the start of last year, but I’ve definitely shown a commitment to play on the DP World Tour, and I’d like to continue that.”
Would he be happy to pay the fines if it comes to it? “We’ll see what happens. I won’t think about that until everything’s worked out.”
Rahm, who has previously said he has no intention of ever paying the fines, was just as relaxed when the subject came up at last month’s BMW PGA Championship. “I completely forgot about that. I hope I forget about it until it happens,” he said.
Rahm, right, has previously said he had no intention of paying the fines and said last month that he had “completely forgotten” about the situation
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However, there is now a chance the cases will not be resolved before 2026 when LIV Golf, bankrolled by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, will stop paying fines on behalf of players.
Graeme McDowell, who left the DP World Tour but has paid $1.5million (about £1.3million) in fines, said this summer that the system was being twisted to get the LIV pair on the team while simultaneously fining them.
“As of January 1 next year, Jon Rahm will be paying those fines out of his own pocket, and I can tell you that his attitude will change quite quickly towards the European Tour [now the DP World Tour],” McDowell said.
“We don’t talk about that stuff [fines] any more because we need those boys to smack their fists against their chest and fall in love with everything that is golf in Europe. But let’s be honest, it’s the European Tour that’s the Ryder Cup team. You play for them. I always did.”
McDowell paid about £1.3million in DP World Tour fines
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Ian Poulter and others first appealed against fines in 2022, but Sport Resolutions set a precedent the following year when it ruled that the DP World Tour had the right to hand out fines and suspensions. In May 2023, some 26 LIV players were then emailed with fines ranging from £12,500 to £100,000 for each event played without an official release.
A string of players avoided paying up by resigning. According to Tour rules that meant former Ryder Cup stalwarts such as McDowell, Sergio García, Poulter and Lee Westwood could no longer be considered as captains. Last year García did pay close to $1million in fines and re-applied for membership in an attempt to make the Ryder Cup team as a player.
The issue feeds into the bigger issue of the impasse between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour on one side and LIV Golf and PIF on the other. The DP World Tour turned down an offer from LIV to pay off the fines last year because that would have come with a concession about unrestricted access going forward.
Before the start of play at Bethpage, Paul McGinley, who will remain as strategic adviser to Europe’s Ryder Cup team for 2027, said: “There’s a bigger play going on here, particularly for the financial future of the European Tour. That’s far more important than whether we have one or two players from LIV. If they lose that appeal and they can’t play the next Ryder Cup, we’ll batten down the hatches and go without them.”
Bryson DeChambeau was the third LIV player at the Ryder Cup. He made it because, although suspended by the PGA Tour, it is the PGA of America, a distinct body, that co-governs the Ryder Cup. DeChambeau earned enough ranking points via his performances at the majors to gain an automatic spot.