Jon Rahm accused the DP World Tour of “extorting players” on Tuesday as the Spaniard explained his refusal to join eight LIV Golf competitors who signed a settlement allowing them to play in tournaments on both Tours.
Rahm, a twice-major champion and former world number one, was notably absent from the list of eight golfers given permission to play in conflicting LIV tournaments this year while retaining their membership status.
The settlement required Rahm to pay outstanding fines of reportedly around 2.5 million pounds ($3.33 million) for playing LIV events without permission, withdraw all pending appeals and commit to playing stipulated DP World Tour tournaments.
But Rahm balked at the conditions, even as he risks his participation in next year’s Ryder Cup.
“I don’t like what they’re doing currently with the contract they’re having us sign. I don’t like the conditions,” Rahm told reporters ahead of an LIV Golf event in Hong Kong.
“They’re asking me to play a minimum of six events and they dictate where two of those have to be, amongst other things that I don’t agree with.” Rahm is no longer a member of the PGA Tour, turning down the chance to return in January when former world number one Brooks Koepka made a costly comeback.
Rahm revealed he also offered a compromise, telling tour officials he would sign immediately if they lowered the requirement to a minimum of four events.
“They haven’t agreed to that. I just refuse to play six events. I don’t want to and that’s not what the rules say,” he said.
The 31-year-old, who has typically played four DP World Tour events annually including the Spanish Open, accused the tour of double-dealing.
“It just seems like in a way they’re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer,” Rahm said.
“In a way they’re extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game.”
Reuters has contacted the DP World Tour for comment.
Several players stuck in Middle East
As of Tuesday, eight LIV Golf players reportedly have been unable to fly out of the Middle East ahead of this week’s tournament in Hong Kong.
Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Sam Horsfield, Anirban Lahiri, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Caleb Surratt and Lee Westwood were practicing in Dubai before Saturday’s U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran led to canceled flights and airport closures throughout the region, Flushing It reported.
Golf Channel exchanged text messages with Surratt, 21, who plays for the LIV Golf team Legion XIII.
“(The) world just came undone on Saturday,” Surrat wrote on Tuesday morning. “It was terrifying. But since then, it’s been OK. It was bad Sunday and Monday here with missile interceptions, but all day today was fine.”
Surratt described Tuesday in Dubai as “totally normal life, people walking around and such.”
Surratt and other golfers are trying to catch a flight out of Dubai or perhaps from Muscat, in neighboring Oman, in time for the start of the Hong Kong tournament Thursday. The league has reserve players who could potentially substitute in if needed.
The U.S. State Department has urged American citizens to leave the region, however CNN reported Tuesday that a “wide corridor of airspace” in the Middle East remains closed to air traffic.
Westwood, Horsfield and Canter are teammates on the Majesticks. McKibbin is also part of Legion XIII, while Meronk plays for Cleeks GC, Detry for the 4Aces and Lahiri for Crushers GC.
Kim riding high on tournament win
Anthony Kim is riding high on the strength of a tournament victory heading into this week’s LIV Golf Hong Kong event.
Two-plus weeks removed from his victory at LIV Golf Adelaide, Kim admitted it’s a bit of a strange feeling on Tuesday while speaking to reporters at Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling.
“I definitely didn’t know what it was like to finish in the top half of the field. It was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time,” he said.
“I think that coming into this week, obviously other people have certain expectations, but all I can do is try my best on every shot.”
Kim’s answer featured a cliche right out of the Golf 101 handbook. That said, he offered a few more to the reporters in attendance before explaining why he did so.
“The thing that I thought were nonsense when I was a kid, when people said, just take it one day at a time and I never listened, I’m using that as a 40-year-old to my advantage,” he said. “I think through my ups and downs, I’ve learned to be resilient and just put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.”
Kim celebrated his storybook return to professional golf by rallying from five strokes back after three rounds to win at LIV Golf Adelaide on Feb. 15.
He joined Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC team before the second event of the 2026 season, replacing Patrick Reed on a full-time basis.
The one-time rising star returned from a 12-year hiatus in 2024 and played the past two seasons as a wild card. However, Kim was relegated after the 2025 season and had to go through the Promotions event, where he made the cut on the number before finishing third to regain his place in the league.
A three-time winner across six seasons on the PGA Tour in his 20s, Kim had Achilles tendon surgery in 2012 and has been open about his rehab from drug and alcohol addiction during his hiatus from professional golf.
Family has remained at the core of Kim’s resurgence, and that was evident when his daughter celebrated his victory at Adelaide.
“When she ran out on to that green, that was – selfishly, that was one of the most special moments of my life,” he said. “When I used to putt for five, six hours on the green at the club I belonged to that sent me a letter to get off the green and not practice as much, that was always in the back of my mind. I’ve seen other players’ families run on to the green. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen (teammate Dustin Johnson) do that.
“But that was my goal. I’m a recovering addict, but now I think I’m addicted to making that happen again. There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from working to get to that point.”
Henley says Players is fifth major
As he prepared to defend his championship at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week, Russell Henley weighed in on whether next week’s The Players Championship should be recognized as golf’s fifth major.
“I think it’s a major. It’s our home tournament. I don’t know the statistics on like what they say, like best field in golf or whatever, but, I mean, it is,” Henley told reporters Tuesday in Bay Hill, Fla.
“And the history with that tournament? I mean, I’ve always considered that a major in my mind. It’s just such a tricky golf course and it rewards great shots, typically. It visually is very intimidating. I feel like if you have a good week there you’ve done a lot of really good things.”
Henley, 36, who collected his fifth PGA Tour title with the win last year at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, is still looking for his first win in a grand slam tournament.
Last year, he followed up his dramatic one-stroke win over Collin Morikawa in the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a tie for 30th at The Players at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
“You look at the past champions (of The Players) and nobody is really, it hasn’t really favored any one player. People typically don’t win it back-to- back, unless you’re Scottie (Scheffler, 2023-24),” Henley said. “But it’s a tournament I always look forward to, I love the challenge of it, and it’s one of, yeah, I consider it a major.”
Henley was asked how high he would rank a victory at The Players among the other majors.
“I mean, winning there, when you win on a golf course like that, with that kind of history, I mean it proves you can do it anywhere, I think, for sure,” he said. “Those closing holes are really tough, I would imagine, when you’re carrying a lead.”
Returning to this week’s task at hand, Henley reflected on the clutch play that earned him the champion’s red cardigan at Bay Hill last year. He chipped in for eagle at the par-5 16th hole and closed with two pars for his first win since the 2022 World Wide Technology Classic.
“Once that chip went in on 16, I knew the tournament was far from over, I only had a one-shot lead, and I had two really difficult holes to play, so I knew I had a lot of work cut out for me,” he said. “I knew Collin was playing great and I knew he would play great under pressure like he always does. Just a lot of different ups and downs of emotions and really proud of myself for just hanging tough all day and seeing it all the way through.”
Henley is trying to become the first back-to-back winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational since Matt Every in 2014 and 2015.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Golf roundup: LIV’s Rahm accuses DP World Tour of ‘extorting players’
Reporting by Detroit News wire services / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
