Golf has found some peace, but not for Jon Rahm. The European circuit, DP World Tour, announced this Saturday an agreement with eight LIV golfers so that they can compete in the Saudi League during 2026 without receiving financial fines. These are Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Víctor Pérez, Elvis Smylie and the Spanish David Puig. The list of pardoned people does not include Jon Rahm, who has not shaken hands with the European circuit and
The DP World Tour pact with these eight golfers means that they will be able to play in LIV without the sanctions that until now were imposed on members of the circuit who competed, without permission, in a Saudi League event in the same week in which a tournament of the tour European. They will thus maintain their membership of the circuit and will be eligible, in the case of the Europeans, for the Ryder Cup. The agreement only extends through 2026 and includes “conditional authorizations”: the eight golfers must pay the fines pending until now (Puig is exempt because he is only a member from this year onwards) and they commit to certain participations in the DP World Tour calendar and withdraw the judicial appeals in progress.
In that labyrinth is Jon Rahm. . The DP World Tour sanction was then frozen and Rahm was able to play the Spanish Open and be eligible for the Ryder. The Barrika golfer refuses to pay a single cent because he considers that the punishment is unfair since many of those tournaments on the European circuit that coincide with LIV events are not part of his usual calendar. Hence, he has refused to pay any of the approximately three million dollars that he estimates have accumulated in the European circuit’s claim.
The matter remains in court pending a resolution. If justice rules in favor of the DP World Tour, as happened for example in the case of Sergio García and other golfers, Rahm will find himself facing a crossroads: pay, as he has said he would not do, or risk ceasing to be a member of the European tour and therefore be able to participate in the Ryder. The third way would be to sit down again at the negotiating table and reach an agreement that in any case would mean breaking the bank. And without the umbrella of the Saudi Sovereign Fund, PIF, which since December 31 no longer covers sanctions for its players.
Last January, Rory McIlroy took a swipe at Rahm and Hatton for their refusal to pay. “We were very harsh with the Americans who charged to play the Ryder and we said that we would pay to play it. There are two guys who can prove it,” said the Northern Irishman. Hatton has signed the agreement and is at peace. Rahm, no.
