Former world number one. Rory McIlroy has asked fellow European golfers, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, to pay the fines they owe to the DP World Tour, as a step to prove their commitment to Europe’s Ryder Cup team. 

Rahm and Hatton, who both currently compete in the LIV Invitational, were fined by the DP World Tour for competing in “conflicting events” without renouncing their membership of the tour.

Rather than pay the fine, the affected men took the matter to court, where it hasn’t been given a verdict to this day. The status of the case allowed Hatton and Rahm to be a part of the 2025 Team Europe Ryder Cup team.

According to McIlroy, both men were aware of the consequences of engaging with other leagues while still being players of the DP World Tour.

The Northern Irishman stressed that it was “absolutely” necessary that the fines were paid, as he recalled how the team bashed American players for getting paid to play: “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 [Rahm and Hatton] that can prove it.”

With the matter still in court, Rahm and Hatton stand to lose a lot should the ruling be against them. Not only do they get to pay the backlog of fines, but they also stand to lose their DP World Tour memberships.

This could mean that they would not qualify for the 2027 Team Europe Ryder Cup team.

For McIlroy, paying the fine is more about keeping with the rules of the Tour than anything else. In his words: “What the DP World Tour are doing is upholding their rules and regulations, and 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 [choice] to go to LIV knew what they were.

“I don’t see what’s wrong with that, I guess, is my opinion.”