Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm are set to play in the upcoming weeks at the DP World Tour. The Englishman will do so from this very Thursday at the British Masters, while the golfer from Barrika is expected, as he himself has commented, at the two events in our country, the Open de España and the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters, as well as the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. This very Tuesday we reported on Hatton’s presence at the British Masters and speculated about the possibility that he had reached an agreement with the DP World Tour on the issue of sanctions. Well, as Ten Golf has been able to confirm, this is not the case. There is no agreement. Nor in Rahm’s case. So, the million-dollar question couldn’t be more obvious. Why will they be able to play? We explain.
The issue is that Hatton has appealed the sanction imposed by the European Circuit, both the financial and the tournament suspension. So, while the appeal is being resolved, Hatton is eligible to play DP World Tour tournaments. If we jog our memory, it’s exactly the same thing that happened at the start of LIV Golf. A group of players led by Ian Poulter, and also including the Spaniard Adrián Otaegui, appealed the sanction imposed by the DP World Tour for their participation in the inaugural London tournament and while the dispute was resolved they were able to compete in European Tour tournaments. Remember that the European Circuit’s sanction is for playing LIV Golf tournaments that coincide in weeks with DP events without receiving the corresponding authorisation set out in the Tour members’ manual.
That initial appeal was made to an arbitration commission called Sports Resolutions, based in London. The first LIV Golf tournament took place in June 2022 and the definitive ruling from the aforementioned commission arrived in April 2023, shortly before the Masters. That is, the process was extended for about ten months, to give you an idea of how long this Hatton issue could now take to resolve. However, it remains to be seen whether the appeal has been lodged with the same institution or whether another has been chosen.
Jon Rahm, for his part, has not yet lodged any appeal against the fine and suspension imposed by the DP World Tour, however, his intention is to play the Acciona Open de España at the end of September. He has two options to do so. The first is to face the financial sanction and the second is to lodge the appeal. In principle, Jon himself made it clear weeks ago that he does not agree with the fines that the circuit has imposed on him, among other things because they included punishments for not playing in tournaments where he had never participated. So, everything points to Jon, like Hatton, not paying upfront and lodging an appeal against the sanction and, therefore, being eligible to play the Open de España. The later he lodges the appeal, in theory, the later the resolution will be, so he would gain time to play more European Circuit tournaments in the first half of next year. That is, if he finally decides to lodge the appeal, he will do so at the last minute. For now, he is registered in the Open de España.
It is true that in Jon’s case, he is also waiting for the birth of his daughter, scheduled precisely for those dates. The logical thing is that once the girl is born and Jon already knows what he will be able to play, he lodges the appeal and participates in the tournaments pending a definitive resolution. In addition to the Open de España, his initial intention was to play the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters.
Finally, as a reminder, the DP World Tour already won this legal mediation in 2023. We will have to see what happens now.
https://ten-golf.com/en/major-tours/more-wood-the-european-tour-wins-the-legal-battle-against-liv-golf/
