The DP World Tour and Jon Rahm reached an agreement this Tuesday so that the Basque golfer will remain a member of the DP World Tour and, consequently, will not only be able to play European tournaments without needing to seek invitations, but will also be eligible for the Ryder Cup in Ireland next year at Adare Manor
A few months ago, Rahm distanced himself from the agreement that the European Tour did reach with eight other players who wanted to remain members of the DP World Tour. The new agreements had two main pillars. Financial fines that have been imposed in recent years are removed and replaced by commitments to play a minimum number of tournaments, some of them chosen by the Tour itself. For example, David Puig played the Turkish Airlines Open last week as a result of that agreement
Although the details of the deal have not been made public, according to what Ten Golf has learned, Rahm undertakes to pay the outstanding fines for 2024, 2025 and the three weeks in 2026 in which LIV and the European Tour tournaments coincided. That is, he pays more fines than other European golfers, since the agreement came a little later, and in exchange the DP World Tour reduces his minimum number of tournaments from six to five
In principle, LIV Golf had agreed to pay the fines until December 2025, so in theory Rahm himself would have had to pay those for 2026. The amount is just over three million euros. It should be remembered that the DP World Tour wanted the minimum number of tournaments to be six, with two tournaments chosen by the European Tour, while Rahm did not want to move from the four that are set as the minimum for DP World Tour members who are not part of LIV Golf. In the end, a compromise: five tournaments
Jon did not earn Race to Dubai points at the Masters Tournament because, at that time, he was in breach of the rules due to unpaid fines. Now that he has paid all outstanding sanctions, he will be eligible to earn points next week at the PGA Championship and at all subsequent events counting towards the Race to Dubai in which he participates during the 2026 season
After several rounds of give and take, the agreement has become reality. Positions seemed quite far apart at the beginning of the year, when Jon even described the European Tour’s negotiating stance as extortion. However, in recent times the tone had softened considerably. In fact, Rahm himself had practically taken it for granted that there would be an agreement sooner rather than later, as has finally happened
This closes a tense chapter in the relations between Jon Rahm and the DP World Tour. This agreement is valid only for this year, so if LIV Golf goes ahead with Rahm remaining in the league, it would have to be renegotiated for 2027. Surely the uncertainty about LIV Golf’s future also hastened these talks. Of course it’s easy to infer something like that, although it need not necessarily have been the case
With this agreement any doubt about Jon’s presence at the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor is now dispelled, where Europe will seek its third consecutive victory and a fourth in five with the Basque present
A spokesperson for the DP World Tour said: “The DP World Tour and Jon Rahm have reached an agreement on conditional authorisations to play in LIV Golf events that clash with Tour tournaments for the remainder of the 2026 season. This implies the payment of all outstanding fines accumulated from 2024 to date, as well as participation in agreed DP World Tour tournaments —outside the Majors— for the remainder of the 2026 season”.
The option to reapply for Tour membership has always been available to former members, provided that all outstanding fines are paid in full and any suspensions have been served. The next opportunity to reapply for membership for the 2027 season would be before the November deadline. This deadline also applies to non-members who wish to join.
