The golf world keeps offering reminders that a lot can change in just a few weeks. The latest change? Jon Rahm’s status with the DP World Tour, who are, importantly, part-owners of the Ryder Cup.
After a months-long stalemate, wherein Rahm was one of the only LIV players from Europe who didn’t reach an agreement to settle fines with the European tour, the two sides have finally reached a deal. Rahm will play five DPWT events this season and will settle fines for three LIV events played in 2026 that conflicted with the DPWT schedule.
As a result, he is now considered a “member in good standing” and will not have his Ryder Cup status impacted ahead of 2027, which was a growing concern.
“There’s no longer a standoff,” Rahm said from this week’s LIV event in Virginia. “We were able to reach an agreement. There was some concessions on both sides. I offered some; they extended an olive branch. Obviously we’ve reached an agreement. That will not be a stress anymore.”
While he wasn’t keen to share details Tuesday, Rahm has been teasing out his hopes for 2026 over the last few months. He apparently told the DPWT in the beginning of the season that if the tour lowered its proposed minimum to four events, he’d sign on the spot. He remained adamant on that point for months, but is now set to play five events. The four events he was ready to sign for months ago were the Spanish Open, the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the Dunhill Links — all in a five-week stretch during the fall. It appears he’s added one more to that list.
As he’d previously described it, the issue wasn’t just events, though — Rahm was also adamant against paying fines, particularly for the event that conflicted with DPWT tournaments he would never have considered playing to begin with. (Think: the Hainan Classic, played in China while LIV was in Johannesburg.) While he won’t be paying the full lot of fines accrued since his LIV career began in early 2024, he will be paying three tournaments’-worth, which would likely be around $375,000. LIV was on the hook to pay the fines Rahm received through 2025.
Rahm’s Ryder Cup status was in doubt because in order to compete in 2027, all players and captains need to be a member of the DPWT. In order to start 2027 as a member, he’d have to be a “member in good standing” in 2026 and play the required minimum events. The golf world has come to understand these event minimums well, as Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton reached minimums in 2024 in order to compete in 2025.
That smooth journey to the Ryder Cup changed in 2026 when LIV Golf stopped paying the fines for players. Suddenly the sanctions players received were going to hit their own pocketbooks. Hatton was among eight players who struck a deal with the DPWT, playing a specific number of DPWT events (littered around the LIV schedule) and resolving any fines as part of a conditional release of their media rights. That meant they could keep playing LIV events and not accrue more fines, so long as they showed up where they agreed to on the DPWT. Some players agreed to play eight events, others seven events and others just six. Rahm fought with the DPWT for months on this topic and appeared ready to stand his ground into next season, risking his assumed placement on next year’s European Ryder Cup team.
Then the landscape shifted again. LIV Golf’s owner, the Saudi PIF, announced it would not be funding the league beyond the 2026 season, calling the league’s prospects into doubt. It’s not clear how this affected Rahm’s decision, but it would have felt odd for Rahm to miss the 2027 Ryder Cup because of a league with an uncertain future. As for his projected future with LIV, which still has him under contract for multiple years?
“I’ll say I’m also not a lawyer. I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you. I have very few talents in my life, and reading a contract or business are not two of them,” Rahm said. “As of right now, I have several years on my contract left, and I’m pretty sure they did a pretty good job when they drafted that. So I don’t see many ways out, and as of right now, I’m not really thinking about it since we still have a season to play and majors to compete for. So it’s not something I want to think about just yet.”
Questions remain. But Rahm’s Ryder Cup future seems resolved — even as the rest of the golf world waits for further answers.
