LIV Golf to stop paying fines for DP World Tour members
10.57am 25th July 2025 – Sponsorship & Events
LIV Golf has told its players that it will stop paying the financial penalties issued by the DP World Tour for taking part in competing events after the end of this season, in a move which could have major repercussions for Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
News of LIV Golf’s new stance, which was first reported in The Telegraph, and was announced to LIV players ahead of this week’s LIV Golf UK at JCB event, would mean that European players who wish to remain eligible for DP World Tour events would have to pay any futures fines out of their own pockets.
According to The Telegraph, LIV Golf has paid around £15 million in fines to the DP World Tour over the last three years so that it’s players can continue to play in DP World Tour events when they don’t clash with a LIV event.
As things stand, every time a LIV golfer plays in a LIV tournament that is held at the same time as a DP World Tour event they are issued with a fine that then has to be paid before they can play in future DP World Tour events. An estimated £8-£10m in fines currently remains outstanding.
Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood lost a legal battle with the DP World Tour over the imposition of these fines in 2023, and a further appeal led by Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton is likely to go the same way when it is heard in court later this year.
That hearing is due to take place after next month’s Ryder Cup, meaning that Rahm and Hatton will remain eligible to play in the matches at Bethpage Black, if selected, but if the case goes in favour of the DP World Tour and LIV golfers are not prepared to pay their own fines next year – which are estimated to be around £1m per player per season – then future membership of the DP World Tour, and eligibility to be selected for future Ryder Cups, would be put in doubt.
As reported in The Telegraph, The DP World Tour can ill afford to lose the likes of Rahm and Hatton from some of its showcase events, but it risks angering those DP World Tour members who have stayed loyal to the tour if it goes back on its pledge to punish those who received sizeable signing-on fees to join LIV Golf.
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