‘Sour taste’: Ex-LIV pro calls out Jon Rahm’s loophole back to DP World Tour, Ryder Cup
Bern Wiesberger and Jon Rahm at the 2021 Open de Espana.
Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
Last week, LIV Golf star Jon Rahm appealed the sanctions levied against him by the DP World Tour for joining the upstart league, thereby allowing him to enter DP World Tour events in the interim and maintain his membership for 2025 — and his access to next year’s European Ryder Cup team. One former LIV pro is not happy with Rahm’s “loophole” around substantial fines charged to him.
Austrian pro Bernd Wiesberger was one of the early defectors to LIV back in 2022. But in 2024, Wiesberger rejoined the DP World Tour. To do so, he had to pay huge fines and agree to a lengthy suspension.
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That pathway back to the European pro circuit, and the golf establishment more generally, is open to any LIV pro, provided they haven’t surrendered their DP World Tour membership.
But several players — including Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton — have refused to pay their fines, and by appealing the sanctions, as Rahm did this week and Hatton did earlier this summer — they are able to, at least temporarily, enter DP World Tour events and regain eligibility for the Ryder Cup without suffering any consequences.
In an interview with bunkered, Weisberger explained in detail how those stars’ ability to take the easy way out rubs him the wrong way.
“I don’t really like the look of it.” Wiesberger told bunkered, “…This ‘going around corners’ now, I don’t really like it, but I like that we have the best players possible playing our tournaments. It’s a little bit of a conundrum in that sense for me.”
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One detail especially bothering Wiesberger is that despite following all the rules and sanctions set out by the DP World Tour to regain membership, he still doesn’t have full privileges, like the ability to play in the Barracuda Championship, which was co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour, where Wiesberger was likely still serving a separate suspension for playing on LIV in 2023.
“I’ve done all my fines and my sanctions and I wasn’t able to play tournaments on this Tour as a full member,” Wiesberger explained to bunkered. “I was going to play the Barracuda Championship and this Tour was unable to get me in the field because it was a co-sanctioned event (with the PGA Tour), which left a pretty sour taste in my mouth.”
Though Weisberger didn’t mention it directly, Ryder Cup eligibility could be adding to his frustration, Weisberger played on the European team in the 2021 Ryder Cup, becoming the first Austrian golfer to appear on the team.
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