Rory McIlroy Shares Opinion on Jon Rahm’s DP World Tour Saga

McIlroy said the Ryder Cup is “bigger than any one person” as Rahm’s stance against the DP World Tour threatens his participation next year.

Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy celebrated last year's European Ryder Cup victory as teammates. | Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

ORLANDO — Rory McIlroy believes the DP World Tour has offered LIV players a “generous deal” to return to the circuit and understands that while it complicates Jon Rahm’s ability to play in the 2027 Ryder Cup, he called it “bigger than any one person.”

On the day that Ryder Cup Europe named Luke Donald to the captaincy for a chance to win a third straight Cup when the matches are played next year at Adare Manor in Ireland, McIlroy was asked about the recent deal that eight LIV Golf members took that will allow them to avoid suspensions and fines—but was rejected by the two-time major champion Rahm.

“In my opinion, it’s a really generous deal,” McIlroy said at the Bay Hill Club in advance of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “Like it’s a much softer deal than what Brooks [Koepka] took to come back and play on the PGA Tour.

“Look, the European Tour can only do so much to accommodate these guys. So, if you want to play on the Ryder Cup you have to be a member of the DP World Tour. You have to be a member of the DP World Tour, you have to abide by the rules and regulations. And the rules and regulations were, O.K., if you break the media rights agreement and you go and play in a conflicting event, you don’t get a release, you’re subject to fines. So the guys didn’t want to pay these fines, that’s fine.

“So then the European Tour said, O.K., let’s try to come up with some sort of solution where you don’t have to pay the fines, so that we can ease that burden on you, but still retain your membership.

“There’s a reason eight of the nine guys took that deal, right. I think it’s a really good deal. Yeah, obviously Jon doesn’t think so, and he’s obviously well within his rights to think that way. But I just don’t see what more the European Tour can do to accommodate these guys to retain their membership.”

Rahm has long maintained that the fines he has accrued since going to LIV Golf in 2024 were improper, especially since many were levied for missing events that he would not have played.

Jon Rahm has maintained that he has been unfairly fined by the DP World Tour for missing events he would not have played anyway. | Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters via Imagn Images

But the DP World Tour won a U.K. arbitration panel case in 2023 which ruled that it was within its rights to enforce its conflicting-events media rights rules. When LIV Golf plays a tournament—such as this week’s event in Hong Kong—Rahm is in violation because the DP World Tour has the Joburg Open in South Africa.

Each time that occurs he accrues fines, although he appealed them in 2024 and the case has yet to be heard.

Eight other players, including Tyrrell Hatton, were offered a deal that was announced Feb. 21 in which they will not be fined this year nor need to apply for releases. In return, they agreed to drop appeals and play the minimum number of DP World Tour events, which is four, plus perhaps two extra.

Rahm, at a news conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday, balked at that requirement.

“I did tell them, funny enough, lower that to four events, like the minimum says, and I’ll sign tonight,” Rahm said. “They haven’t agreed to that. I just refuse to play six events. I don’t want to, and that’s not what the rules say.”

But McIlroy, who lobbied for Rahm’s inclusion upon his leaving for LIV Golf, said that the extra two events are basically a trade-off for not being fined or needing releases.

“Which isn’t a heavy lift,” McIlroy said. “I mean, to retain your membership is four events on the DP World Tour outside of the major championships. And that to me doesn’t seem ... yes, maybe the European Tour gets to have a say in where those two events are, but I mean, I’m sure Jon doesn’t want to go to South Africa [in two weeks for a LIV event] but he’s going there.

“He signed a contract for LIV and he plays 14 events and the whole thing. Like I get all that. But the DP World Tour is well within its rights to protect itself as a members organization and as a business. And if you asked any DP World Tour member about the deal that they have cut with the LIV guys they would, I think they would all say that it was pretty generous.

“So again, there’s a reason that eight of the nine took it, because they probably think the same thing, and one guy thinks a little differently, and that’s a shame.”

Eight other LIV Golf members accepted the DP World Tour’s offer

Those who took the deal were Hatton, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, David Puig and Elvis Smylie, all of whom are in Hong Kong this week but not facing penalties for missing the South Africa event.

It is still unclear when Rahm’s appeal will be heard or how it will go. If it goes against him, he’ll face having to pay the penalties in order to be able to play DP World Tour events. And that is required for membership and being eligible for the Ryder Cup, where he went 3-2 in September during Europe’s victory.

“The Ryder Cup is bigger than any one person. It’s bigger than all of us,” McIlroy said. “We come and go. Players are—we pass through the system. Like, it’s the platform that’s the big thing. I think we should all be grateful that we have a platform like the Ryder Cup that we can play on and that we can showcase our skills and be a part of something that’s obviously way bigger than ourselves. So at the end of the day it’s about the team and no one player is bigger than the team.”

As for Donald’s appointment, McIlroy was clearly on board.

“It’s amazing,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s obviously a huge advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency. I was sort of banging on that drum going into Bethpage. And we’ll have it even more so again, you know. Team may be a little bit different, or it could be, you know it was obviously really similar to Bethpage to what it was in Rome. I maybe envision a couple other guys maybe breaking their way onto the team. But it’s wonderful to have Luke back. There’s not one player or one person behind the scenes that helps with Ryder Cup Europe that isn’t thrilled that Luke agreed to come back and do it again.”