Eight DP World Tour players will be able to play in LIV Golf events without being sanctioned after agreeing to pay their existing fines. Tyrrell Hatton is among those who have agreed to the terms, but Jon Rahm is refusing to pay up and remains in Ryder Cup limbo.
Rahm and Hatton had appealed against their fines, incurred for playing in LIV events without releases from the DP World Tour. Hatton has now agreed not to go down the legal route but Rahm, who faces more than £2.5million in fines, is standing his ground.
It is a significant development, but the DP World Tour insists the agreement is not precedent-setting and that this is not a deal with LIV Golf. The players who have been granted conditional releases to play in conflicting tournaments on the LIV circuit are Hatton, Tom McKibbin, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, David Puig and Elvis Smylie.
Hatton, right, is among the players to be allowed to play in conflicting LIV Golf events — but the DP World Tour insists the agreement is not precedent-setting
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Each player’s case is different, and the DP World Tour believes it has struck a good deal by telling the eight which tournaments they must play in. Rahm is understood to be unhappy with that condition as well as having to settle his fines. The players will also need to carry out specific sponsorship and media duties. In a statement the DP World Tour said: “The conditions these members have accepted will provide additional value to the DP World Tour and benefit the entire membership.”
The releases only apply to the 2026 season, and the DP World Tour still hopes to solve the Rahm conundrum before next year’s Ryder Cup in Ireland. As things stand, he must win his appeal against sanctions or settle his fines to be eligible for the biennial clash. He has been resolute in his determination not to pay, even when LIV Golf would have footed the bill for him. That changed at the start of this year, with LIV no longer indemnifying players.
A string of DP World Tour players resigned their membership to avoid paying fines when the inter-tour conflict was at its bitterest, but that made them ineligible for any Ryder Cup roles. However, LIV players have continued to play on the DP World Tour by paying or appealing against their fines, or receiving sponsor invites. Before leaving LIV Golf last month, Patrick Reed said he needed to win $1million to cover a season’s fines.
McIlroy last month urged both Rahm and Hatton to pay their fines and end the saga
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Rahm’s stance is doing him no favours. The Spaniard believes that he should not be penalised for missing DP World Tour events that he would never have entered, but he knew the sanctions were in place when he made his $300million move two years ago. He only managed to star in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage by expediently using the “pending appeal” loophole, and team-mate Rory McIlroy last month urged him and Hatton to end the saga. “We went really hard on the Americans about being paid to play in the Ryder Cup and we also said we would pay to play the Ryder Cup. There’s the two guys that can prove it.”
One of the conditions of the releases is withdrawing any appeal, and Rahm is now heading to an independent hearing on his own.
The DP World Tour approach has some echoes of the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Programme, a system that gave only the most coveted LIV players a pathway back to that circuit. And the DP World Tour will continue to take disciplinary action against other members who participate in conflicting events without releases. Those who resigned have the option of reapplying for membership by November as long as they settle fines and serve any suspension.