McIlroy believes Rahm and Hatton can pay fines and prove “we would pay to play”
Rory McIlroy has heaped pressure on LIV Golf’s Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton to commit to their Ryder Cup future and pay their DP World Tour fines.
Hoping to claim his fifth win in this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Masters champion said the best way for Rahm and Hatton to show their support for Europe is to pay the millions in fines they owe and remain eligible for selection at Adare Manor next year.
The pair appealed their fines and were able to play for Europe in New York last year. Their appeal has yet to be heard, but McIlroy believes that after Europe made a big deal of the Americans being paid to play at Bethpage Black and having said they would "pay to play” in the Ryder Cup, the LIV Golf duo had a chance to prove their loyalty by simply paying up.
“Yes, absolutely,” said the Holywood star. “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.”
Rahm is refusing to pay the DP World Tour around $3 million in fines, while his Legion XIII teammate Hatton, who also owes several million dollars, refused to comment on his case yesterday.
“To be honest, I don't have an update to give,” said Hatton, who is this week’s defending champion and one of 11 LIV Golf players in the field. “It's still with legal teams and there's guys that are still in conversations working it all out.
“I haven't put any more thought into that. I don't really know what's happening. I'm just here to play golf as always.”
McIlroy does not see the professional game being anywhere close to reunification and believes the DP World Tour is justified in imposing fines for breaches of its regulations.
“Look, I think any organisation or any members' organisation like this has a right to uphold its rules and regulations,” McIlroy said. “And what the DP World Tour are doing is upholding their rules and regulations.
“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.”
As for the division in the professional game, McIlroy does not see it being reunified anytime soon.
“Well, it matters,” he said. “I would say that's Solution A. It matters. But I just don't see a world where it can happen at this point. I don't see a world where the two or three sides or whoever it is will give up enough.
“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. I think they are just too far apart for that to happen.”
He added: “I definitely think the traditional tours, if you want to call them, have weathered the worst of the storm.”
While he wouldn’t address the fines issue, Hatton hopes his Ryder Cup career would only be ended by age or bad form.
“I've always been extremely proud to be a member on the DP World Tour, and certainly over the last couple of years, I've shown commitment to playing events here,” said the English star, who plays the first two rounds with McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.
“And then with the Ryder Cup, it's pretty hard to make those teams, and I've been fortunate to play the last four.
“Hopefully I'll be able to play more in the future. But hopefully the only thing that stops me from being able to play in them would be age and some younger, much more talented players taking my spot in that sense.”
As McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin play in Dubai, Seamus Power tees it up in The American Express at La Quinta, where world number one Scottie Scheffler makes his 2026 debut.
While Brooks Koepka will not return to the PGA Tour until next week’s Farmers Insurance Open, Scheffler is happy to see his former Ryder Cup partner return from LIV Golf.
“I think it’s good for the Tour, especially in the long run,” Scheffler told SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio.
“I love being able to compete against him and I’m looking forward to getting to do that a lot more often this year.”
