Rahm is not fine with Euro fines

Spaniard's dangerous game with eligibility could cost him Ryder Cup

Jon Rahm: “I don’t intend to pay the fines” (Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

Jon Rahm is playing a strange game with his Ryder Cup eligibility, one that should have been resolved by this point but instead will apparently play out over the next two weeks.

The Spanish star who is playing in the LIV Golf Chicago event this week has entered the Spanish Open later this month, one of three tournaments he needs to play in order to fulfill DP World Tour membership requirements that would allow him to compete in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

Here’s the problem: Rahm has fines and suspensions associated with playing LIV Golf events and not seeking releases for conflicting tournaments from the DP World Tour. Tour officials have made clear that those issues need to be resolved to maintain membership eligibility.

Rahm is balking at the fines.

“I’m entered into the tournament. We entered a long time ago,” Rahn said of the Spanish Open in two weeks. “Whether they let me play or not is a different thing. I’m not a big fan of the fines. I think I’ve been outspoken about that. I don’t intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen.

“I’ve said many times, I don’t go to the Spanish Open for the glory or anything else. I think it’s my duty to Spanish golf to be there, and I also want to play in Sotogrande (the Andalucía Masters).

“At that point, it would almost be doing not only me but Spanish golf a disservice by not letting me play, so yeah, that’s why we’re trying to talk to them and make that happen. I would also love to play the Dunhill (Links Championship in Scotland). I have a good friend who asked me to play, and Johan (Rupert, the event organizer) has been a great, great ambassador for the game of golf. I would love to be able to play all those events.”

A DP World Tour spokesman said Rahm and his representatives have been made aware of the situation. He needs to play four DP World Tour events this year, with the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition already counting as one of them.

He’s also required to play his home country’s Open, so the Spanish Open is a must or he’d need to play two others to make up for skipping it. The tournament is Sept. 26-29.

“Jon has outstanding sanctions for breaches of the DP World Tour’s conflicting tournament regulation,” the DP World Tour said in a statement. “Until those outstanding sanctions are resolved, he is ineligible to play in a DP World Tour event.”

This week, Rahm is missing the Irish Open and next week is the DP World Tour’s flagship event — the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth — opposite LIV Golf’s team championship in Dallas.

Rahm could also appeal the sanctions, as Tyrrell Hatton did, which allowed Hatton to play in the British Masters two weeks ago. Hatton played in Dubai earlier this year so needs just two more events to remain eligible for the Ryder Cup.

Pádraig Harrington, the 2021 European captain, took the DP World Tour’s side in the matter when he spoke this week at the Irish Open.

“I know Jon Rahm. Big fan of Jon,” Harrington said. “And if the rules are written down, you’ve got to go about and stick to them. That’s just the way it is. It’s very important for the Ryder Cup — the Ryder Cup is bigger than just the match.

“I know people want to make out that it’s this one match every two years, but the Ryder Cup is the European tour. It is the backbone of the European tour. I would have been a strong advocate of stronger rules in the past — four events is not a lot.

“And I know the independent, the neutral would say, it should be just European-born players against U.S.-born players, but it’s very important to the European tour. The European tour doesn’t have a lot of leverage to get players to come across and play here.”

The puzzling aspect to all of this is Rahm could easily handle the fines. While the amount is undisclosed, the DP World Tour said it varies by the situation and tournament. Two of the LIV events were not up against DP World Tour events and even large fines of $200,000 per event would be an amount easily covered by his LIV contract and winnings.

Rahm is in line to make a minimum bonus of $8 million this week as part of LIV’s individual competition. He is No. 1 in the year-long standings and only Joaquin Niemann can catch him. The winner gets an $18 million bonus.

That is in addition to the $20 million in prize money offered this week, with $4 million to the winner. For the year, Rahm has banked more than $12 million in LIV prize money on top of a whopping nine-figure deal he got for signing last December.

Complicating matters further is Kelly Rahm’s pregnancy. Rahm suggested earlier this year that there were some complications and his wife is apparently due next month during the time he might be playing in Europe. They live in Arizona.

The Spanish Open is in late September, followed Oct. 3-6 by the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. Following the French Open is the Andalucía Masters Oct. 17-20.

“There was a dark moment there with the pregnancy,” Rahm said. “When I say moment, it was every bit of two months, and I feel like we’re coming out of that right now. We’re towards the end. Because of the issues we’ve had, they probably won’t let her go a lot past 38 weeks, but she keeps doing better and better, so they keep changing what her deadline is.

“I think right now, most likely if the baby doesn’t come early, we might try to induce right after Dallas. It could be a case where I go home, deliver the baby, and then fly Tuesday or Wednesday to Madrid. So I could have a case of flying Thursday morning and teeing off Thursday afternoon, could have a case of flying Wednesday afternoon and teeing off Thursday morning.

“I’d say right now we have that going on, but if the baby comes early we’ll see what happens. I probably would still try to go back home and spend some time with them before I’m gone for the other weeks.”