Jon Rahm opens up on DP World Tour offer to LIV players - and he's not happy

Speaking in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning ahead of this week’s event on the breakaway circuit, the Spaniard claimed he would also have accepted the offer if he had only been required to play in a minimum of four DP World Tour events rather than six.

“I did tell them, funny enough, lower that to four events, like the minimum says, and I’ll sign tonight,” said Rahm during a press conference at Hong Kong Golf Club. “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.”

The eight players, including Rahm’s Legion XIII team-mate Tyrrell Hatton, are now free to play in LIV Golf events this year after securing conditional releases.

They all accepted the conditions specified by the DP World Tour for their release, including payment in full of all outstanding fines for breaches of the DP World Tour’s Regulations.

They will also participate in additional stipulated DP World Tour tournaments, as well as associated media activity and promotion.

“I don’t like what they’re doing currently with the contract they’re having us sign. I don’t like the conditions,” added Rahm, who had said previously he doesn’t believe he should have to pay fines for missing events he would not have played anyway. His fines are believed to be in excess of $2 million, a bill LIV Golf would pay through 2025.

“They’re asking me to play a minimum of six events, and they dictate where two of those have to be, amongst other things that I don’t agree with.

“If we just go based on that, I’ve been a dual member my whole career, PGA Tour and DP World Tour. Now with LIV Golf being accepted in the world rankings as part of the ecosystem, you could almost say a three-tour member, even though I’m suspended from the PGA Tour.

‘What’s the problem?’

“But I’ve always been a dual member. Never once have I been asked for a release to play either one of those tours. We’ve never submitted a release. So why is it now that we need to be offering this and there’s all these penalties? What's the problem?”

Rahm, who received a reported $566 million to sign for LIV Golf, is running the risk of being ineligible for the Ryder Cup is he loses an appeal against his fines and continues to take a stand.

But he said: “I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now, but it just seems like in a way they’re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer, and it’s just in a way they’re extorting players like myself 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 agree to that.”

Earlier this year in Dubai, Rory McIlroy, in reply to being asked about the Ryder Cups and how European players had talked about how they’d play it for free after the Americans were paid last year, replied in reference to Rahm and Hatton: “There’s two guys who can prove it.”

Rahm was asked about that on Tuesday and insisted: “That statement would make a lot more sense if all 12 of us were being asked to pay, not only just the two of us.

“There’s more intricacy that goes into this whole situation, right. While I understand why he’s saying that, we all do it for the love of the game, it’s a different situation than what we usually see.

“I’ll gladly pay my way to go on the Ryder Cup, not have to pay to still be a member of the DP World Tour and fulfill a commitment that I’m fully willing to commit.”