Top News

Rory McIlroy has told LIV Golf stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton to prove their love of the Ryder Cup by paying fines to stay in the European team. The Spaniard and the Englishman are locked in a legal battle with the DP World Tour over fines and bans for playing on the Saudi-backed tour.

LIV Golf paid any fines up until January 1 this year but this season players will have to pay. But Rahm, who agreed an estimated $400m deal when he joined in December 2023, has refused to pay the potential $3m in fines on a point of principle.

Both players were fined after joining LIV Golf but an appeal was lodged in August 2024 to allow them to play last year’s Ryder Cup.

Team Europe made an issue of not being paid at Bethpage Black while the American players were each given $500,000 with $300,000 given to charity and $200,000 as a “stipend”. Speaking before the Hero Dubai Desert Classic this week, McIlroy was asked if it would be easier if Rahm and Hatton just paid the fines.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said the world No.2 “Look, this is my opinion. 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. There's two guys that can prove it. Great.”

• Brooks Koepka backed to take on Rory McIlroy and win more majors after PGA Tour return

• Luke Donald to hold crucial Ryder Cup captaincy talks in Dubai

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page

According to DP World Tour rules, players must seek approval before competing in tournaments outside the tour and face fines up to $100,000 for events played without permission.

“Look, I think any organisation or any members' organisation like this has a right to uphold its rules and regulations,” McIlroy added. “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. So I don't see what's wrong with that, I guess, is my opinion.”

McIlroy last week welcomed the return of Brooks Koepka to the PGA Tour after the five-time Major winner left LIV.

Asked if his return made reunification in golf more likely - and whether it mattered - the Masters champion said: “I think it matters. I would say that's Solution A. It matters. But I just don't see a world where it can happen at this point.

"Just I don't see a world where the two or three sides or whoever it is will give up enough. Like for reunification to happen, every side is going to feel like they will have lost, where you really want every side to feel like they have won.

"And I think they are just too far apart for that to happen. I think relationships are better, but at the same time, that doesn't necessarily mean that every organisation will give up in its own best interest.”

He added: “I definitely think the traditional tours, if you want to call them, have weathered the worst of the storm. Again, my opinion is that golf would be better served if all the best players in the world played together a little more often than they do.

"We're really only seeing that four times a year at the major championships. But you're talking about a handful of guys that are missing, say, a Players Championship or some of the other bigger tournaments in the world.

"So, yeah, I'd like to see the best players play together maybe ten times a year instead of four times a year. But I would say that's the only negative I see to something coming together.”

Luke Donald is holding talks with the DP World Tour boss Guy Kinnings in Dubai this week about taking the captaincy for a third time.