LIV Golf is working with the DP World Tour to resolve the fines incurred by Jon Rahm and Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton, the breakaway circuit’s chief executive officer Scott O’Neil told Telegraph Sport.
Rahm ditched the PGA Tour for LIV Golf on a massive contract before the 2024 season, and Hatton followed to join Rahm’s team. The star golfers from Spain and England, respectively, joined the PIF-backed league knowing that they would be fined and suspended for competing in events without tournament releases from the DP World Tour.
The golfers appealed the fines as a means to keep their Ryder Cup eligibility, and both played a significant role in Team Europe’s 15-13 win at Bethpage Black in September in Farmingale, N.Y.
LIV Golf has been paying off the fines in the interim, however multiple golfers on the circuit said a change is coming next season. That change, per reports, is players wishing to remain members of both tours will be held accountable to pay the fines themselves.
“This is something that needs to be settled, and I’m looking forward to that day,” O’Neil told Telegraph Sport.
“We’re having constructive conversations with Guy Kinnings (the DP World Tour chief executive officer) and his team. We are hoping that before the season starts, we can all come together in the best interest of golf and put this behind us.”
Rahm is on record as saying he does not intend to pay the fines.
“I’m not a big fan of the fines,” he said last September. “I don’t intend to pay the fines and we keep trying to have a discussion with them (the DP World Tour) about how we can make this happen.”
Rahm repeated as the individual champion this year and followed that by guiding Legion XIII to their first team title.
–Field Level Media
