{"id":500686,"date":"2026-03-03T06:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T06:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/500686\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T06:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T06:26:07","slug":"jon-rahm-explains-why-he-rejected-dp-world-tour-deal-theyre-extorting-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/500686\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Rahm Explains Why He Rejected DP World Tour Deal: \u2018They\u2019re Extorting Players\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jon Rahm said he would have agreed to the DP World Tour\u2019s offer that eight other LIV Golf players accepted<\/a> allowing them to play this year without releases and fines had the tour agreed to his stipulation that he only be required to play four events.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning ahead of this week\u2019s LIV Golf Hong Kong event, Rahm spoke extensively on the issue that could possibly keep him from playing in the 2027 Ryder Cup<\/a> if it is not resolved in his favor.<\/p>\n

The DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) on Feb. 21 announced that eight players had agreed to terms that will see all past fines paid while dropping appeals and agreeing to play extra events at the Tour\u2019s choosing in addition to the four required. In return, the players will not be forced to seek releases to play conflicting LIV Golf events, which for the last four years has caused members to be fined and suspended.<\/p>\n

Rahm has balked at being told he must add events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did tell them, funny enough, lower that to four events, like the minimum says, and I\u2019ll sign tonight,\u201d Rahm said at a news conference at Hong Kong Golf Club. \u201cThey haven\u2019t agreed to that. I just refuse to play six events. I don\u2019t want to, and that\u2019s not what the rules say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahm has said previously he doesn\u2019t believe he should have to pay fines for missing events he would not have played anyway. His fines are believed to be in excess of $2 million, a tab LIV Golf would pay through 2025.<\/p>\n

He appealed the fines in September 2024, which allowed him to remain a member and compete in last year\u2019s Ryder Cup. A hearing date has not been set.<\/p>\n

If he loses the appeal, he\u2019d be required to pay outstanding fines in order to participate in any DP World Tour events\u2014including the Ryder Cup next year at Adare Manor in Ireland.<\/p>\n

If he wins, the DP World Tour would undoubtedly face litigation, and yet it won an arbitration panel case in 2023<\/a> which ruled it was within its rights to impose fines and suspensions, per its conflicting events rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like what they\u2019re doing currently with the contract they\u2019re having us sign. I don\u2019t like the conditions,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cThey\u2019re asking me to play a minimum of six events, and they dictate where two of those have to be, amongst other things that I don\u2019t agree with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we just go based on that\u2014I\u2019ve been a dual member my whole career, PGA Tour and DP World Tour. Now with LIV Golf being accepted in the world rankings as part of the ecosystem, you could almost say a three-tour member, even though I\u2019m suspended from the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve always been a dual member. Never once have I been asked for a release to play either one of those tours. We\u2019ve never submitted a release. So why is it now that we need to be offering this and there\u2019s all these penalties? What’s the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

(When Rahm was a member of the PGA Tour, he was not required to get releases to play in DP World Tour events under the \u201chome tour\u201d rule which stipulates unlimited releases in Europe and the Middle East as long as you play the minimum of 15 events on the PGA Tour.)<\/p>\n

Rahm\u2019s LIV Golf teammate was among eight agreeing to the DP World Tour\u2019s terms<\/p>\n

The eight players who agree to the terms were Rahm\u2019s Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, David Puig and Elvis Smylie.<\/p>\n

The DP World Tour plays the Joburg Open this week in South Africa, which puts Rahm in violation and subject to penalties. The others no longer have to worry about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what game they\u2019re trying to play right now, but it just seems like in a way they\u2019re using us to\u2014they\u2019re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer, and it\u2019s just in a way they\u2019re extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t like the situation and I\u2019m not going to agree to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahm was asked about comments Rory McIlroy made earlier this year in Dubai. McIlroy said that European players had made it a point to say\u2014unlike their American counterparts who were getting compensated\u2014that they\u2019d compete in the Ryder Cup for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two guys who can prove it. Great,\u201d McIlroy said, referring to Rahm and Hatton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat statement would make a lot more sense if all 12 of us were being asked to pay, not only just the two of us,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cThere\u2019s more intricacy that goes into this whole situation, right. While I understand why he\u2019s saying that, we all do it for the love of the game, it\u2019s a different situation than what we usually see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll gladly pay my way to go on the Ryder Cup, not have to pay to still be a member of the DP World Tour and fulfill a commitment that I\u2019m fully willing to commit.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Golf from Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Rahm said he would have agreed to the DP World Tour\u2019s offer that eight other LIV Golf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-500686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}