If still captain in two years’ time Luke Donald may struggle to cobble together a strong Team Europe - PA/David Davies

LIV Golf has informed its players that it will not go on paying DP World Tour fines after this year, in a move which could have severe repercussions for the Europe Ryder Cup team.

Since the formation of the breakaway league in 2022, the rebels who have signed have done so knowing that financial penalties imposed by the European circuit for jumping ship would be settled for them by their Saudi paymasters.

Telegraph Sport has discovered that, so far, LIV has sent in roughly £15m in sanctions with the potential for another £8-10m in outstanding fines, should an appeal launched by the likes of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton prove unsuccessful.

That hearing will now take place after next month’s Ryder Cup, meaning that Rahm and Hatton will remain eligible to play in Luke Donald’s side at Bethpage Black. However, the appeal should be held in the months thereafter and considering it is expected to lose – given the precedent set two years ago when the DP World Tour won a lengthy legal battle against legends such as Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood over its right to fine and suspend players – many more millions will be heading in the direction of Wentworth HQ.

That latest economic injection would naturally be most welcomed by the Tour, but it would come with a huge headache when LIV turns off the tap and the players are expected to pay the fines out of their own funds if they wish to remain as Tour members and thus eligible for the Ryder Cup.

LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan (centre) is pulling the plug on paying fines imposed by the DP World Tour - PA/Mike Egerton

In a letter to Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings, Rahm’s manager starkly spelt out that the former world No 1 “has no intention of paying any fines” and it must be questioned if Hatton would be prepared to cough up what would be expected to amount to at least £1m per season.

The same would apply to Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin, who joined LIV in January, and former DP World Tour player of the year Adrian Meronk. With no end in sight, would they agree to keep paying the ever-increasing reparations to ensure they could remain members?

The questions would not finish there. After resigning his Tour membership in the wake of the lost appeal, Garcia has rejoined this season to try to qualify for the Ryder Cup, a quest that appears doomed. LIV paid almost £1m to help Garcia to regain his card.

Of course, all of this could be averted if the Tour changes its rules and, as Rahm’s manager said in the letter, “play on the DP World Tour without concern for pending penalties, with some of the best players in the world in some of his favourite countries and in front of the incredible European fans”.

Jon Rahm was lured to LIV golf for upwards of £450m but says he would refuse to pay any fine - Getty Images/Pedro Salado

But such a stand-down would cause friction among the members who have stayed loyal and rejected the Saudi cash.

“There would be outrage if the Tour caved in,” one insider told Telegraph Sport. “The point is that the Tour fully expected the peace negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudis to have been settled by now, so they kicked this can down the road happy in the belief it wouldn’t matter. But with no deal in the pipeline – anything but, in fact – there is a huge problem looming.

“And at this point, unless the impasse between the two parties is broken, or the Tour changes its rules or even quits the strategic alliance with the PGA Tour and rows in with the Saudis, it is inevitable that the Europe Ryder Cup will be weakened for the match in Ireland in 2027. These are uncertain times and there is a lot of angst about what happens next.”

There certainly is and the issue has been a talking point on the range at the JCB Golf and Country Club near Uttoxeter this week, where the LIV Golf UK event begins on Friday. Rahm, Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau are the favourites, alongside Joaquin Niemann.

The latter has stunned the game by splitting with coach Eduardo Miquel and caddie Gary Stephens in the wake of last week’s missed cut at The Open, despite the Chilean having won more than £13m in 2025 to top the LIV standings with events to go in the individual race for the near £15m bonus.

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