LIV Golf presented an offer to the DP World Tour last August to eliminate the penalty imposed on Jon Rahm. Specifically, the Saudi league put six million pounds sterling on the table to add to the prize pools of the European Circuit, ten places in the tournaments of the International Series of the Asian Tour for members of the DP World Tour and to prepare the 2025 calendar in such a way that the LIV tournaments do not coincide with the best events of the European Tour. For example, that next year the Saudi team final, which is being held this week in Dallas, is not the same week as the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. In this way, it would allow LIV players who wished to play these tournaments in Europe.
This information, published by Sports Illustrated, a medium very close to LIV Golf, has been confirmed by the DP World Tour itself. The conversations took place, the negotiations were carried out and the DP World Tour rejected the proposal. A spokesperson for the European circuit said: “We met with them and listened to their proposal, but we did not accept it, as our opinion remains that the focus should continue to be that all stakeholders work together to reach a global solution that benefits our sport”. That is, while the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund are negotiating, the DP World Tour understands that there is no room for bilateral agreements.
LIV Golf made this offer to eliminate Jon Rahm’s fines, but in reality it was about extending it to the rest of the penalties of players who are or have been members of the European Circuit, including Tyrrell Hatton himself. That is, it was the first step to establish a kind of collaboration agreement between LIV and the DP World Tour to permanently eliminate fines in exchange for these considerations, basically more money, because the members of the European circuit are little or not interested in the places of the International Series, tournaments with a prize pool and a distribution of world ranking points lower than those in Europe.
Rahm was confident that the DP World Tour was going to accept this deal. The refusal fell very badly and was one of the reasons why he waited until the end to appeal his sanction and thus open the door to play this year in the DP World Tour. According to sources consulted by Ten Golf, Rahm’s agents filed the appeal twelve minutes before the deadline to be able to play the Acciona Open de España. At least, until his appeal is resolved.
Actually, the appeal has been an exit provided by the DP World Tour itself to Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm. A way to buy time. In April 2023, a resolution was already made regarding the appeal filed by Ian Poulter and other players like Adrián Otaegui and the judge ruled in favour of the European Circuit. That’s why he has continued to impose and collect fines. Precisely, the fact of presenting the appeal to Rahm and Hatton as a solution to buy time and, above all, that they can play to be eligible for the Ryder Cup, is what has upset other players who are or have been in LIV and have had to pay: these are the cases of Martin Kaymer, Thomas Pieters or, more recently, Bernd Wiesberger. The Austrian has publicly complained about this supposed favouritism towards Hatton and Rahm, as they were not offered the possibility to appeal.
We will see what happens when the verdict on Rahm and Hatton’s appeals is delivered. In principle, the final decision could be delayed eight or ten months. Once it occurs, obviously favourable to the European Circuit because there is precedent, it will be necessary to see if the immediate collection of fines is carried out or another route is chosen.
The negative response of the DP World Tour must be framed within the agreement it has with the PGA Tour. The American circuit has put a lot of money on the table to save the European circuit after the pandemic and, logically, it would be seen as disloyalty to reach an agreement with LIV Golf at the expense of the PGA Tour and the negotiation that is still being carried out to reach a global agreement.
Although the fine figures have not been revealed, according to Sports Illustrated, both Hatton and Rahm owe about one million dollars to the European Circuit, an amount that LIV Golf could undoubtedly pay, as it has done in other cases, although the objective of the negotiation was to reach a definitive solution to stop more fines in the future.
