Jon Rahm’s ongoing standoff with the DP World Tour is not being ignored by his European Ryder Cup teammates.
In an interview with Golf Channel on Tuesday, TV analyst and Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch asked Justin Rose about the situation surrounding Rahm, who is risking his eligibility to play in future Ryder Cups by refusing to pay fines and play in an elevated minimum of DP World Tour events — requirements that were laid out for Rahm to maintain his DP World Tour membership while playing on the LIV Golf circuit. He played at Bethpage Black in 2025 because he had an active appeal against the DPWT’s sanctions, but has since withdrawn that appeal, leaving his status in limbo.
Lynch asked Rose whether it’s possible the two parties won’t come to an agreement by the time the next Ryder Cup rolls around in September 2027, which would leave the Europeans to play without Rahm for the first time since 2016. Rose believes that scenario is “absolutely feasible.”
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“I think the line in the sand has been drawn,” Rose said. “Quite a few players have committed to the strategy that the DP World Tour has set forward in terms of paying the fines and playing some extra tournaments to help bolster their schedule. I think the DP World Tour are willing to work with Jon, so it’s going to take a bit of compromise and I hope we can find that sort of common ground.”
Lynch: Is Jon Rahm coming to his senses or pushing to the brink? One move is a guaranteed loser
In February, eight LIV Golf members, including European Ryder Cup stalwart Tyrrell Hatton, accepted a conditional release from the DP World Tour, allowing them to remain in good standing and maintain their Ryder Cup eligibility as long as they play in a minimum of six DPWT tournaments — four of their choice and two chosen by the Tour itself.
Rahm — who’s believed to have racked up more than $3 million in penalties from the DP World Tour for competing in conflicting events on LIV Golf — did not agree to the conditional release because the minimum appearance requirement of six is higher than the standard minimum of four that applies to his other Ryder Cup teammates like Rose, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, who spend most of their time on the PGA Tour.
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“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now, but it just seems like in a way they’re using us [LIV players] to — they’re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer, and in a way they’re extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game,” Rahm said while speaking at a LIV Golf news conference on March 3. “So I don’t like the situation and I’m not going to agree to that.”
Rose doesn’t see it that way.
“From my point of view, I think the DP World Tour’s stance is reasonable,” Rose said. “If you play an event opposite one of their events, by nature of that, you’re weakening their tour and their ability to go out and create impact in the game of golf.
“If you want to be a member of the Tour, yes, you get a fine. And I’ve been in that situation, too, where I’ve played elsewhere outside of the DP World Tour, opposite one of their events, and I’ve also been fined. So I feel like I’m good with the strategy because clearly they’re trying to make their tour as strong as possible, which is not an easy task.”
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Rose isn’t the only one to voice this opinion. Earlier this month, Rory McIlroy called it a “shame” that Rahm turned down the conditional release offered by the DP World Tour.
“In my opinion, it’s a really generous deal,” McIlroy said on March 4. ‘It’s a much softer deal than what Brooks [Koepka] took to come back and play on the PGA Tour. . . there’s a reason that eight of the nine took it, and one guy thinks a little differently, and that’s a shame.”
Now that Rahm has withdrawn his appeal, it stands to reason the DP World Tour will have no choice but to suspend his membership, meaning Rahm would not be eligible to play in the Ryder Cup until a solution is found. For now, though, it doesn’t appear either party plans to budge.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Justin Rose comments on Jon Rahm’s standoff with DP World Tour
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