Jon Rahm has withdrawn his appeal of the fines he has accumulated from the DP World Tour, a bill he said exceeds $3 million.
What comes next though is the million-dollar question.
The fines were the result of the European tour applying its policy on conflicting-event releases and media rights when players like Rahm joined LIV Golf and played events on the Saudi-backed league that were opposite European tournaments.
The appeal had allowed Rahm to continue to play European tour events and the Ryder Cup but his decision to withdraw the appeal means he will have to pay any outstanding fines to be eligible to play DP World Tour events, which doesn’t seem likely given his hard line against any sanctions.
Late last month, the European tour created a pathway for members who joined LIV Golf and had been subjected to fines. Under the policy, eight players agreed to play an increased number of regular, non-major European tour events and pay all outstanding fines in exchange for an end to the sanctions and fines they faced for playing LIV events.
Rahm did not accept the stipulations.
“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now,” Rahm said two weeks ago, “but it just seems like in a way [the DPWT is] using us to — they’re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer. It’s just, in a way they’re extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game.”
“So I don’t like the situation and I’m not going to agree to that,” he added.
Rahm has not played a DP World Tour event this year but played three non-major European tour events last year, including the Spanish Open and BMW PGA Championship.
Without European tour membership, the Spaniard would not be eligible to play at next year’s Ryder Cup, which would be a blow for the team considering his solid play paired with Tyrrell Hatton in recent matches.
Hatton was one of the eight LIV players who accepted the European tour’s deal last month to end the fines standoff. Rahm, however, said the deal was “extorting” players by making them add to their schedules.
“In my opinion, it’s a really generous deal. Like it’s a much softer deal than what Brooks [Koepka] took to come back and play on the PGA Tour,” Rory McIlroy said ahead of this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “Look, the European Tour can only do so much to accommodate these guys.
“If you want to play on the Ryder Cup, you have to be a member of the DP World Tour,” he added. “You have to abide by the rules and regulations and the rules and regulations were, if you break the media rights agreement and you go and play in a conflicting event, you don’t get a release, you’re subject to fines. So, the guys didn’t want to pay these fines, that’s fine.”