Jon Rahm Eligible For DP World Tour After Officially Appealing Sanctions

Jon Rahm is able to keep his Ryder Cup status alive after officially lodging an appeal to his DP World Tour sanctions.

It means he will tee it up in the Open de Espana later this month, while he also intends to play in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the Andalucia Masters.

Those add to his Olympic appearance to ensure he has four DPWT starts this year and keeps his membership active to be selected for Luke Donald's Ryder Cup side next year.

Rahm is playing in the LIV Golf Chicago event this week, where he and Joaquin Niemann battle it out for the $18m individual title, with Rahm telling media on Wednesday that he was refusing to pay his fines. He has since lodged the appeal.

A spokesperson for the DP World Tour said: “Jon Rahm has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid later this month.”

"Still talking to the DP World Tour. I intend to play in Spain," Rahm said on Wednesday at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

"I'm entered into the tournament. We entered a long time ago. Whether they let me play or not is a different thing.

"I'm not a big fan of the fines. I think I've been outspoken about that. I don't intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen.

"I've said many times, I don't go to the Spanish Open for the glory or anything else. I think it's my duty to Spanish golf to be there, and I also want to play in Sotogrande [Andalucia Masters]. 

"At that point, it would almost be doing not only me but Spanish golf a disservice by not letting me play, so yeah, that's why we're trying to talk to them and make that happen.

"I would also love to play the Dunhill. I have a good friend who asked me to play, and Joe has been a great, great ambassador for the game of golf. I would love to be able to play all those events.

"I would go Madrid, so Open España, Dunhill, week off, Sotogrande, and I want to play them all. I think I might be entered into both of them. We entered those events, and I want to play. That's my intent is to play."

A DP World Tour spokesperson said at the time: “Jon has outstanding sanctions for breaches of the DP World Tour’s conflicting tournament regulation. Until those outstanding sanctions are resolved, he is ineligible to play in a DP World Tour event.”

To play in the Ryder Cup, Europeans must be members of the DP World Tour and in order to retain membership they must play in at least four events in a season as long as one of them is in their home country, otherwise it is six.

Luckily for Rahm, the Olympics counted as one of his four so he only needs to play three times before the season ends in mid-November so would be eligible with the Spanish Open, Dunhill Links and Andalucia Masters.

All three events offer Ryder Cup points along with the four Majors next year, offering Rahm the chance to qualify for the team automatically. If he does not, he would almost certainly be afforded a wildcard pick by European captain Luke Donald.

Donald recently told BBC Sport that there is "not going to be a situation where we're singling out one person to change the rule" and ensured that Rahm "absolutely knows what is required."

Tyrrell Hatton is in a similar boat to Jon Rahm and currently has an appeal running with the DP World Tour over his fines, having recently teed it up in the British Masters.

A DP World Tour spokesperson told Golf Monthly: “Tyrrell has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him for breaching the DP World Tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulation and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the Betfred British Masters.”

For Rahm to fulfil his membership, he would need to pay his fines or, like Hatton, appeal them - which is exactly what he has done.