Rahm takes a step towards Ryder Cup with fines appeal

Jon Rahm is in Chicago preparing for the LIV Individual Championship at Chicago’s Bolingbrook Golf Club, but it’s back across the Atlantic where the big Rahm story of the week thus far is playing out.

The two-time major winner had until this afternoon to either pay his fines or lodge an appeal against them in order to be deemed eligible to enter the Spanish Open in Madrid, which will be the second of four DP World Tour events required in order to remain in the frame for Ryder Cup selection at Bethpage in 2025.

And the news coming out of DP World Tour HQ at Wentworth is that Rahm has indeed appealed against the fines meaning that, for the moment at least, he is back in the frame and his entries to the Spanish Open and Andalucia Masters have been accepted.

“Jon Rahm has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the acciona Open de Espana presented by Madrid later this month,” said a DP World Tour spokesperson, but that’s far from the end of the matter.

“I’m not a big fan of the fines,” Rahm said this week in Chicago. “I’ve been outspoken about the fines. I don’t intend to pay the fines and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen.”

Following PGA Tour and the PIF appearing to bury the hatchet last June, Rahm’s move to the PIF-funded LIV Golf League in December sent shockwaves through the pro golf ranks and was a clear indicator that any resolutions were far from settled.

The move was also reported to be worth in the region of $600 million to the Spaniard, $300 million of that believed to be up front. All of which makes the issue of paying a fine of around $1 million seemingly small potatoes.

There aren’t many Europeans who don’t want to see Rahm in blue and yellow in New York next September, but he’s unlikely to garner much sympathy, particularly when others including 2021 Ryder Cup player Bernd Weisberger, whose LIV signing bonus would’ve paled in comparison to Rahm’s, have paid their fines in order to be welcomed back into the DP World Tour fold.