Jon Rahm withdrew the lawsuit against the DP World Tour on 10 March. The news was first reported by Golf.com this Friday from South Africa and confirmed by Ten Golf. There is no longer litigation between the parties, which does not mean the matter has been settled, far from it. Jon remains a member of the DP World Tour, but he will have to pay the outstanding fines if he wants to play a European Tour event again. In other words, he will have to pay the outstanding fines if he wants to play in the Ryder Cup.
Jon filed the lawsuit against the DP World Tour over the sanction in the form of fines and suspension imposed on him in 2024 for playing LIV Golf events that clashed with European Tour tournaments without the necessary authorisation set out in the members’ regulations. That lawsuit was practically a consensual solution between Jon and the DP World Tour, together with Tyrrell Hatton, to buy time, avoid losing his membership status and take part in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
Filing the suit led to the provisional suspension of the European Tour’s punishment while Rahm and Hatton’s appeal was resolved. Meanwhile, Jon has been able to play European Tour events, has kept his membership status and has played in the Ryder Cup. In purely pragmatic terms the lawsuit worked.
However, Bethpage passed, the resolution of the lawsuit was approaching, which would inevitably have sided with the DP World Tour, and a new scenario opened up. He would have to pay the fines until 31 December 2025 and negotiate a new agreement for 2026. That is the deal eight European Tour players reached in early March and from which Jon Rahm chose to stay out. Everyone else withdrew from the suit and the man from Barrika was left alone.
The story has now taken another turn, although Jon’s situation will not change immediately. Guy Kinnings, CEO of the DP World Tour, made it very clear during the announcement of Luke Donald’s renewal as Ryder Cup captain for Ireland. “The first thing Jon has to do is withdraw the lawsuit and the next is pay the fines. He knows that”. What he was saying was that the ball is in Rahm’s court.
The Spanish golfer has now withdrawn the suit, but for the moment he has publicly stated, precisely in that Golf.com piece, that he has no intention whatsoever of paying the fines. If he does not, as the DP World Tour regulations are written, he will not be able to play European Tour events. If he does not play European Tour events, he will not be able to maintain his membership status. If he cannot maintain his membership status, he will not play in the Ryder Cup.
As it stands, the only solution right now is for Jon to pay the fines and sit back down to negotiate with the DP World Tour an agreement for 2026. So far, the European Tour has been inflexible. Either he pays the fines or there is no possibility of a deal.
The perfect storm, if there is no solution beforehand, will come at the end of August. That is when everything will explode again. Jon finishes the season on LIV Golf, the qualification for the 2027 Ryder Cup begins and the DP World Tour events that the Biscayan intends to play arrive. In fact, his planned schedule, according to Golf.com, is Irish Open, BMW PGA Championship, Spanish Open and Alfred Dunhill Championship. Because yes, Jon is not moving from his plan to play only four events, the same as is required of all members who are not in LIV Golf, and not the six that have been offered to players such as David Puig or Tyrrell Hatton.
It is very hard to know what will happen. From Jon’s camp they are already evoking the memory that Seve Ballesteros once missed a Ryder Cup because of a clash with the DP World Tour. In other words, he is hinting that the same could happen to him.
For now, Jon buys time and avoids a judicial defeat that was guaranteed, although the DP World Tour does not seem willing at present to move from its initial stance: fines plus a new agreement for 2026 with a minimum of six events. Will Jon end up paying the fines until December 2025 and signing a new agreement for four or five events? It is impossible to answer that question. The only reality is that Jon and the DP World Tour have not sat down to negotiate again. Rahm is the one who now has to take the next step.
