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Two-time major winner and LIV Golf star Jon Rahm hit back at the DP World Tour this week, accusing the European sports body of “extorting” players by forcing them to play extra tournaments and pay fines for failing to obtain permission to play in the competing Saudi-backed golf league.
Last month, the European Tour announced it had reached an agreement with eight LIV Golf pros that would allow them to continue playing on the rival tour without having to pay additional fines for participating in events that took place in the same week as DP World Tour events.
Jon Rahm of Team Europe hits his tee shot on hole No. 1 during singles on the final day of competition for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in Bethpage, New York, September 28, 2025. (Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters via Imagn Images)
Rahm was not among the eight.
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“I don’t like what they are doing now with the contract they are making us sign,” he told media at the LIV Golf Hong Kong event on Tuesday. “I don’t like the conditions. They ask me to play a minimum of six events, and they dictate where two of them should take place, among other things that I don’t agree with.”
Rahm, winner of the 2023 Masters and 2021 US Open, argued that he never needed to be released from the PGA Tour or DP World Tour before joining LIV.
“I’ve been a dual member throughout my career, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. Now that LIV Golf is accepted into the world rankings as a member of the ecosystem, you could almost say a three-tour member, even though I’m suspended from the PGA Tour. But I’ve always been a dual member. I’ve never been asked for a single permit to play either of those tours. We’ve never submitted a release. So why do we have to offer this now and there has all these penalties?
He continued: “I just don’t like the situation. I think we should be able to play freely wherever we want and have the choice to play wherever we want without being dictated to what we do. Especially myself. I can’t speak for others, only for myself.”
Jon Rahm of Spain waits to play on the fourth day of the Spanish Open presented by Madrid 2025 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, October 12, 2025. (Alvaro Medranda/Qualité Sport Images/Getty Images)
Rahm said the minimum requirement for membership, which is four tournaments, is something he has always done and is committed to continuing. He said in response to the European Tour’s latest request that he would sign if they reduced the required number to four, which he said they had not agreed to.
“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now, but it seems like in a way they’re using us – they’re using our impact in tournaments, fining us and trying to benefit from both sides of what we have to offer, and it’s just in a way that they’re extorting players like me and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game. So I don’t like the situation and I’m not going to accept that.
“I simply refuse to participate in six events,” he added later. “I don’t want to, and that’s not what the rules say.”
Jon Rahm in action during the first round of play at LIV Golf Riyadh at Riyadh Golf Club in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 4, 2026. (Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters via Imagn Images)
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Despite the four-tournament minimum to retain membership, the latest dispute puts Rahm’s participation in the 2027 Ryder Cup in jeopardy.
A British arbitration panel, Sports Resolution, ruled in April 2023 that the tour had the right to penalize players as a member organization. If the panel rules in favor of the tour again, Rahm would be required to pay his fines or lose his membership, which would prevent him from joining next year’s Ryder Cup team.
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