Rory McIlroy believes the best way for Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton to maintain their DP World Tour status -- and, with it, their Ryder Cup eligibility -- is to pony up the fines they've racked up for playing in unauthorized LIV Golf events.
Speaking ahead of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, McIlroy needled his two Ryder Cup teammates with the same jab the European side used repeatedly in the lead-up to last year's Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
"We went really hard on the Americans about being paid to play the Ryder Cup, and we also said that we would pay to play in Ryder Cups," McIlroy said. "There's two guys that can prove it."
Both Rahm and Hatton are DP World Tour members, and they are fined by the tour each time they compete in a LIV Golf event that conflicts with an event on the DP World Tour schedule. The DP World Tour has never authorized their members to play in LIV Golf tournaments, and the fines are in the range of $100,000 per event. Rahm has suggested he has tallied up close to $3 million in fines.
The Spaniard has also said he will not pay the fines, and he's appealed them since 2024. However, there's been no formal adjudication date for arbitration of his appeal. Several LIV Golf players, including Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, lost a similar appeal in front of an arbitrator in 2023.
If Rahm and Hatton lose their case, they'll be forced to pay up the existing fines or lose their membership -- as well as access to the Ryder Cup.
McIlroy said the Legion XIII teammates knew what they were getting into when they signed with LIV Golf and that the DP World Tour has every right to enforce their membership stipulations.
"Look, I think any organization or any members' organisation like this has a right to uphold its rules and regulations," he said. "And what the DP World Tour are doing is upholding their rules and regulations and we, as members, sign a document at the start of every year, which has you agree to these rules and regulations, and the people that made the option to go to LIV knew what they were."
