Bern Wiesberger and Jon Rahm on the 2021 Open de Espana.
Stuart Franklin/Getty Pictures
Final week, LIV Golf star Jon Rahm appealed the sanctions levied in opposition to him by the DP World Tour for becoming a member of the upstart league, thereby permitting him to enter DP World Tour occasions within the interim and preserve his membership for 2025 — and his entry to subsequent 12 months’s European Ryder Cup group. One former LIV professional is just not proud of Rahm’s “loophole” round substantial fines charged to him.
Austrian professional Bernd Wiesberger was one of many early defectors to LIV again in 2022. However in 2024, Wiesberger rejoined the DP World Tour. To take action, he needed to pay big fines and conform to a prolonged suspension.
Jon Rahm’s Ryder Cup future is murkier than ever — simply ask him
That pathway again to the European professional circuit, and the golf institution extra usually, is open to any LIV professional, offered they haven’t surrendered their DP World Tour membership.
However a number of gamers — together with Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton — have refused to pay their fines, and by interesting the sanctions, as Rahm did this week and Hatton did earlier this summer season — they’re able to, at the very least briefly, enter DP World Tour occasions and regain eligibility for the Ryder Cup with out struggling any penalties.
In an interview with bunkered, Weisberger defined intimately how these stars’ capability to take the simple method out rubs him the flawed method.
“I don’t actually just like the look of it.” Wiesberger informed bunkered, “…This ‘going round corners’ now, I don’t actually prefer it, however I like that we’ve one of the best gamers potential enjoying our tournaments. It’s a little bit little bit of a conundrum in that sense for me.”
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One element particularly bothering Wiesberger is that regardless of following all the foundations and sanctions set out by the DP World Tour to regain membership, he nonetheless doesn’t have full privileges, like the power to play within the Barracuda Championship, which was co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour, the place Wiesberger was probably nonetheless serving a separate suspension for enjoying on LIV in 2023.
“I’ve executed all my fines and my sanctions and I wasn’t in a position to play tournaments on this Tour as a full member,” Wiesberger defined to bunkered. “I used to be going to play the Barracuda Championship and this Tour was unable to get me within the area as a result of it was a co-sanctioned occasion (with the PGA Tour), which left a fairly bitter style in my mouth.”
Although Weisberger didn’t point out it straight, Ryder Cup eligibility might be including to his frustration, Weisberger performed on the European group within the 2021 Ryder Cup, turning into the primary Austrian golfer to seem on the group.
However Weisberger is probably going not on the high of European captain Luke Donald’s listing for captain’s picks for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Rahm, however, will nearly definitely be chosen for the European group ought to he be eligible.
