On Thursday, Jon Rahm filed a formal appeal relative to financial penalties imposed on him for joining LIV Golf in late 2023. With the filing, the 29-year-old Spaniard will now be able to tee it up in DP World Tour events as the process plays out.
To be eligible for next year’s Ryder Cup matches in New York, Rahm is required to make four official European tour starts. The Olympics counted as one, so Rahm requires just three more.
Two of the (three) starts will be bookend appearances in his native Spain: first at the Spanish Open at Madrid (Sept. 26-29), then the Andalucia Masters (Oct. 17-20). In between he will tee it up in the Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course in Scotland (Oct 3-6).
“Jon Rahm has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the [Spanish Open] later this month,” The European tour said in a statement.
Rahm’s LIV Legion XIII teammate, Tyrrell Hatton, is going through the same appeal process, allowing the Englishman to become Ryder Cup eligible as the appeal is pending.
Hatton teed it up in last week’s British Masters where he held the lead at the halfway point. He will also play in the Spanish Open alongside Rahm.
Ahead of the LIV Golf Chicago tournament, where he’s vying to win the league’s season-long individual championship and the $18 million bonus, Rahm said he has no intention of ponying up the cash.
“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.
In the simplest of terms, the European tour fines players for not being excused from a DP World Tour event to play in a LIV Golf event during the same week.
Rahm’s argument is he shouldn’t be fined for playing in LIV Golf events opposite lower-tier DPWT tournaments that he’s never played and would never enter.
For instance, of the 12 LIV Golf League events completed in 2024, eight were opposite DPWT tournaments contested in outposts such as Bahrain, Qatar, South Africa, Japan, China, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic – eight events that Rahm has never played. Three other LIV Golf tournaments were played during European tour bye weeks. And just one, LIV Golf Andalucia, was contested opposite an elite DPWT tournament: the Genesis Scottish Open – a tournament that is now an official PGA Tour event so Rahm would be ineligible regardless.
Experts predict Rahm has little to no chance of winning his appeal and is just using the appeal process to buy time and qualify for the Ryder Cup.
Precedent has been set with players such as Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood who lost their appeals in April 2023. Sport Resolutions, an “independent panel” based in the UK, ruled that defecting players “committed serious breaches of contract” and that the European tour was “within its rights to penalize” the golfers.
As he walked off the course following his first round at the Irish Open, European captain Luke Donald was “very happy” upon being told of Rahm’s decision.
“Yeah, I just heard 30 seconds ago. Yeah obviously from my standpoint very happy to hear he made that decision,” said Donald, who made the cut in Ireland after opening rounds of 74 and 70.
“I know he was sitting on the fence a little bit, and glad that he’s done that and being allowing to play and create some time for things in the world of golf to hopefully figure themselves out.
“I think we are all being very patient right now. It’s 15 months since Yassir (Al-Rumayyan) and Jay Monahan got together. It’s been frustrating I think for a lot of the players to see how slow everything has been going, and I’m sure it’s been frustrating for Jon as well.
“But I think this hopefully gives some time for hopefully things to happen. I’ve heard in the last couple weeks there’s been a little bit more progress. It’s not fun for me to deal with, and it’s not fun for anyone to deal with; and I’m glad Jon decided to appeal and he can play his events in which he wants to play and be eligible.
“I know the Ryder Cup means so much to him, and I’m sure that was a massive factor in his decision.”
