Both were thought to be banned from the tournament which is co-sanctioned by Europe’s DP World Tour
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Europe’s 2025 Ryder Cup chances just improved and it seems all it took was a fresh set of eyes on the old rules.
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According to multiple reports, LIV Golf superstar Jon Rahm and his fiery Ryder Cup partner Tyrell Hatton will be eligible to play next year at Bethpage Black as Europe looks to win on U.S. soil for the first time since 2012.
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Both LIV golfers were thought to be banned from the tournament which is co-sanctioned by Europe’s DP World Tour.
Speaking to a group of U.K. and Irish golf writers, new DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings said golfers such as Rahm and Hatton actually shouldn’t be locked out of the sport’s most intense competition.
“If you look at what the qualification/eligibility criteria was for 2023, then I think there has been a slight misconception,” Kinnings reportedly told the group of reporters. “Because the reality is under the current rules, if a player is European and is a member of the DP World Tour and abides by the rules as they currently are — so, if you don’t get a release, there are sanctions and if you accept those sanctions and take those penalties and work with that — there is no reason why players who’ve taken LIV membership but maintain membership with the DP World Tour could not a) qualify or b) be available for selection.”
Monday Morning Golf
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Under Kinnings’ reading of the rules, players who have not forfeited their DP World membership, such as Rahm and Hatton, have been serving their suspensions on a week-to-week basis despite not intending to play in DP Word Tour events.
“He serves his bans throughout the process,” Kinnings is reported as saying in the U.K. Mirror. “He doesn’t have to enter an event to be banned.
“When those suspensions are served, we will still allow him the ability to play in certain events. There are enough weeks in the year. It is not a loophole — these are the rules we have always had.”
Whether this is simply a more favourable reading of existing rules or a decision by the new boss to look the other way is up for debate, but it appears to be another example of the civil war in the world of golf beginning to thaw.
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“To be honest, I think some people had said, ‘Oh, you are going to have to change the rules,’ and then came back and said, ‘Actually, I don’t think you do,’” Kinnings is quoted as saying in The Scotsman.
Kinnings took on the role as DP World Tour CEO at the beginning of April, when the longtime agent for English golfer Colin Montgomerie replaced Canadian Keith Pelley, who recently took over the role of president and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.
LIV golfers Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland all resigned their DP World Tour memberships when they made the switch to Greg Norman’s breakaway tour, so they would remain ineligible for the Ryder Cup.
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