Jon Rahm and the DP World Tour remain at odds.
JOHAN RYNNERS, GETTY IMAGES
Jon Rahm’s standoff with the DP World Tour over conflicting-event sanctions appears farther than ever from resolution.
The 31-year-old Spaniard, who has been subject to suspension and fines from the European circuit since joining LIV Golf in December 2023, dropped his appeal of those sanctions on March 10, Golf.com first reported last week. Rahm has said he has no intention of paying the fines he has accumulated, which various reports have pegged in excess of $3 million, and he reiterated that stance to the tour, the Golf.com report said.
The two-time major champion had remained eligible to compete in DP World Tour events as well as the Ryder Cup while the appeal was pending. Last month, Rahm declined a deal that allowed eight other LIV Golf competitors, including his 2025 Ryder Cup foursomes partner Tyrrell Hatton, to end their conflicting-event sanctions by paying outstanding fines and agreeing to play in a stipulated number of DP World Tour events.
“We’re trying to figure it out, and we’re trying our best, but I don’t feel like I’m asking for too much,” Rahm said last week in South Africa. “If they just reduce [the stipulated number] to four events, a lot of this gets cleared up.” READ MORE
“I cried walking in to do the interview and then I felt a thousand pounds lighter.”
Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, describing to Golfweek his feelings following his revelation in a recent Golf Channel interview that he has battled post-traumatic stress disorder in the months since undergoing brain surgery to remove a benign lesion.
JAMES GILBERT, GETTY IMAGES
Tiger Woods tempered optimism about his potential return to competition last week, acknowledging that his recovery from the disk-replacement surgery he underwent last fall remains a challenge.
“I said I’ve been working on it,” Woods said last Tuesday after watching his Jupiter Links GC team prevail in the TGL semifinals. “Sometimes I have good days, sometimes I have bad days. Disk replacement is not a lot of fun. ...
“So as I said, I’ve had a lot of procedures prior to that, so the body doesn’t quite heal like it was when I was 24. Doesn’t quite bounce back. So I have good days when I can pretty much do anything, and other days where it’s hard to just move around.”
Woods, who became eligible for PGA Tour Champions after turning 50 in December, had said last month that a return to competition at the Masters was not off the table. READ MORE
Retirement may not be imminent for Lydia Ko, but it’s not that far off either, she suggested last week.
The 28-year-old LPGA Hall of Famer, who once said she’d retire by age 30, isn’t likely to compete beyond the 2027 season and will give fans two months’ notice of her plans to step away, Golfweek reported.
“I personally don't want a parade of retirement,” she said. READ MORE
Tap-Ins
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Min Woo Lee will headline the field at the PGA Tour’s Texas Children’s Houston Open this week. READ MORE
Two-time LPGA winner Rose Zhang, who turned pro in 2023 following her sophomore year at Stanford University but has continued to pursue her degree while competing on tour, told reporters at last week’s Fortinet Founders Cup that she had finished her final paper and is set to graduate in June. READ MORE
Due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, the HotelPlanner Tour has rescheduled two tournaments that were to take place in the United Arab Emirates next month, it announced. The UAE Challenge has been moved to Sept. 24-27, while the Abu Dhabi Challenge will be staged Oct. 1-4. READ MORE
Compiled by Mike Cullity
