A major change could soon be coming to LIV Golf, and it has nothing to do with the on-course product.
Telegraph Sport reported Thursday that LIV Golf has informed its players it will stop paying DP World Tour fines for its players to remain members on the circuit. That change will take effect next season.
It’s pivotal for a couple reasons, but it has large ramifications for the Ryder Cup. Members of the European squad must be DP World Tour members. Players on LIV Golf, like Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Adrian Meronk and Tom McKibbin, have maintained their DP World Tour membership due to LIV Golf paying the fines.
Former DP World Tour golfers competing for LIV Golf are in violation of the DP World Tour’s conflicting events policy, which requires a release to play elsewhere. In April 2023, the Tour won a U.K. arbitration case that allows it to enforce the penalties. That means if players want to compete on the DP World Tour, they’ll have to pay a fine, among other penalties. Rahm and Hatton are currently appealing that decision.
Telegraph Sport reports the league has dished out 15 million euros, with another 8 to 10 million euros due in outstanding fines. The hearing on the appeal will take place after the Ryder Cup in September, making them eligible to play.
Rahm’s manager, in a letter to Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings, said Rahm “has no intention of paying any fines,” per the report.
A source also told Telegraph Sport, “There would be outrage if the Tour caved in. The point is that the Tour fully expected the peace negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudis to have been settled by now, so they kicked this can down the road, happy in the belief it wouldn’t matter. But with no deal in the pipeline – anything but, in fact – there is a huge problem looming.
“And at this point, unless the impasse between the two parties is broken, or the Tour changes its rules or even quits the strategic alliance with the PGA Tour and rows in with the Saudis, it is inevitable that the Europe Ryder Cup will be weakened for the match in Ireland in 2027. These are uncertain times and there is a lot of angst about what happens next.”
LIV Golf is playing its 11th event of 14 in 2025 this week at LIV Golf UK at JCB Golf & Country Club.
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