Jon Rahm withdraws DPWT sanctions appeal. But his condition has not changed

JOHANNESBURG — While competing this week in South Africa, Jon Rahm continues to record DP World Tour suspensions and fines for competing in the “controversial” LIV event.

The argument? Members of the DP World Tour, like members of the PGA Tour, sign regulations at the beginning of each season, agreeing not to play in televised golf tournaments in the same weeks as DPWT events – at least without an approved exemption from the DPWT. With the DPWT holding its Hainan Classic in China this week, LIV South Africa is considered a contender, even if, as Rahm has stated many times, he would never consider playing in China.

While that may be old news — Rahm has been receiving this treatment for years — what has changed is that he no longer contested the sanctions, the DPWT confirmed to GOLF.com. On March 10, Rahm officially withdrew his 18-month plea but made it clear to the DPWT that he has no interest in paying his fines, which have grown north of $3 million.

The appeal, which had continued without meaningful progress, allowed Rahm to compete in DPWT events for the past 18 months without disqualification, as well as to compete in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. While the appeal remained, Rahm remained (technically, at least) a member in good standing with the tour. The Euros won the away Ryder Cup, Rahm played a major role and had one of his best, most settled seasons. But now, at the beginning of the big tournament season, the conflict continues, and in different contexts.

In late February, the DPWT announced that eight LIV players had signed conditional releases that would prevent them from receiving sanctions for playing LIV events. It was a kind of olive branch, which was offered for the first time, and it was not a predecessor. Something changes every few months in the world of golf. The deal was only for 2026, and each player’s release included different terms. These eight will have to play a minimum number of events this season – between six and eight hundred tournaments – to maintain membership. The minimum for non-LIV members is four non-majors. They would have to play too specific events defined by the DPWT and pay any outstanding fines. Rahm objected to the request for several reasons – mainly that he would have to play six which aren’t major, increasing his annual total to 24 – and he talked about it in a press conference two weeks ago.

“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now,” Rahm said, “but it looks like something.” [the DPWT is] using it to — they use our strength in competitions and they fine us and they try to benefit both ways from what we have to offer. It’s just that, somehow they cheat players like me and younger players who have nothing to do with the politics of the game.

“So I don’t like this situation and I won’t accept it.”

By young players, Rahm means players like Tom McKibbin, David Puig and Elvis Smylie, all three of whom are now expected to make the trip to India this year to make good on their releases. Smylie, in the past three weeks, followed LIV’s song from Hong Kong to Singapore to South Africa. He will now make a double comeback at the DPWT’s Hero Indian Open next week in New Delhi.

A number of specific DPWT events are expected to benefit from the presence of LIV golfers. The Turkish Airlines Open, for example, in late April, should see several LIV players squeeze in part of their commitments in eastern Europe before flying to Washington DC for their next LIV event. The Soudal Open, in Belgium, should see a few LIV players on its pages, even though the event is the week after the PGA Championship and the week before LIV plays in Korea. For those who have accepted conditional discharge, the schedule fills up quickly.

Importantly, in April 2023 – before Rahm became an LIV golfer – the DPWT won a settlement on a similar complaint by Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and a number of others. It was determined legally that the sanctions were appropriate in order for the tour to maintain its business as a membership organization. And while the regulations haven’t changed in the three years since then, the landscape of golf has changed. The warring parties appeared to have agreed to a Framework Agreement in June 2023, but an agreement did not materialise. LIV Golf events now receive world class points for their top ten athletes, which was not the case three years ago. Major tournaments have created a new release in recent years for top LIV players, which was not the case three years ago.

One side of the argument is that – given the changed structures of pro golf – the DPWT should be more willing to offer LIV golfers during conflicting weeks without needing to ask for more. For months it looked like the dispute would be tested in court, but that is no longer the case. On March 4, DPWT CEO Guy Kinnings said Rahm had two options: see the appeal or make good on the sanctions. On March 10, the complaint was withdrawn, but Rahm refused to accept the withdrawal and fine.

“As you can imagine, what we’re looking to do is to do what’s best for the Tour as a whole, the members as a whole, and the arrangements we’ve made to support the Tour,” Kinnings said. “It will help improve the product, that will lead to happy advertisers, sponsors, broadcasters, it is our duty to deal with those existing laws that have been tested and found to be unfair and that is what we are doing.”

One reason – and arguably the biggest – is that maintaining good standing with the DPWT is important because 2027 is the year of the Ryder Cup. To compete for a place in next autumn’s Ryder Cup Europe in Ireland, players need to be active members of the DP World Tour this year, compete in a minimum number of events and settle outstanding penalties. The Ryder Cup is the highlight of the DPWT. The Cup is such a big part of the tour’s funding – so much so that the tour can hardly exist without it – so naturally it’s a big conversation piece any LIV golfer can afford to miss.

Rahm did not waver from his stance. You want to be a DPWT member and you want to play a minimum standard of events. He simply doesn’t believe he should be sanctioned in events he wouldn’t even consider competing in, and he doesn’t want to see his meager dedication elevated beyond, say, Rory McIlroy’s or Tommy Fleetwood’s. The DPWT, on the other hand, is just trying to uphold regulations that all its members agree on. Somewhere in between is a method that some LIV players have found suitable, not all.

Lost in the planning of the late February announcement, Rahm is not the only LIV golfer to reject this conditional release. South Africans Branden Grace and Dean Burmester both entered into negotiations with the DPWT when they were members earlier this year, but both refused a conditional discharge and ended up resigning their membership. (They are not eligible for the Ryder Cup as they are not European.)

Rahm still hasn’t given up his membership, which takes us all into a time machine, back to September 2024, just before he filed his appeal. Rahm was racking up fines and suspensions throughout that summer, and it looked like the DPWT would not allow him to play the Spanish Open, in his home country, that fall.

Rahm has played the Spanish Open every year since turning pro, winning it three times. He considers it his “duty” to return to his open house. He hopes to play it again this fall, among three other DPWT events in September and October: the Amgen Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the Dunhill Links Championship.

In an unsanctioned world, Rahm would reach his quota of four (non-major) events to become a member, as he has done for the past two years, and enter 2027 as a possible Ryder Cup Europe member. But that is not the current reality of the golf world. Rahm understands this. He knows the layoff could rule him out of Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team next fall, and he’s comfortable with it. You know very well that Spanish golf legend Seve Ballesteros once won the Ryder Cup in a row with DPWT. To avoid that, Rahm sees a way forward, but it does not include him playing more events.

“I said [the DPWT]funnily enough, they are low [my minimum] in four events, as the minimum amount means, and I will sign tonight,” Rahm said earlier this month.” “They didn’t agree to that. I just refused to play six events. I don’t want to, and that’s not what the rules say.”

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