DP World Tour Will Bar LIV Golf Players From 2027

The DP World Tour won't grant 2027 membership to any player who signs with LIV Golf, CEO Guy Kinnings announced on October 12. The move ends the conditional release arrangement that had let some LIV-contracted players keep competing on both tours, and it lands with real force: DP World Tour membership is required to make Team Europe for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor.

• What happened: DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings said on October 12 that LIV Golf players won't get 2027 tour membership, reversing the conditional release policy that had allowed dual competition.
• The quote: Kinnings told reporters, "Players need to make a choice. We have rules and regulations which are there to protect our tour and which our members must all abide by. Players who are not willing to comply with our rules and regulations should not be seeking to join our tour."
• The deadlines: NBC Sports reports players must declare their LIV intentions by October 25, with DP World Tour membership itself settled by November 16.
• The stakes: DP World Tour membership is required for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, so this decision doubles as a Ryder Cup eligibility line.
• Who's actually deciding: Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin, and Victor Perez remain LIV-contracted and face the choice directly. Jon Rahm's case is different: he already moved to separate from LIV in October.

What happened

Kinnings laid out the policy in blunt terms. "Players need to make a choice," he said. "We have rules and regulations which are there to protect our tour and which our members must all abide by. Players who are not willing to comply with our rules and regulations should not be seeking to join our tour." The statement, carried by Sky Sports and the Irish Times among others, closes a door the DP World Tour had left open for several seasons: a conditional release system that let a handful of LIV players keep their DP World Tour cards active alongside their LIV contracts. From 2027, that dual path is gone. Sign with LIV, and DP World Tour membership goes with it.

The practical timeline matters here, and the reporting varies in how precisely it states it. NBC Sports reports that players must declare their LIV intentions by October 25, with DP World Tour membership itself needing to be settled by November 16, dates also confirmed by Golf Monthly and Yahoo Sports. The Irish Times and Sky Sports describe the same window more loosely, as deadlines falling "next month." Both point to the same month-long stretch; NBC is the outlet naming the specific dates.

The stakes go beyond tour cards. DP World Tour membership is a requirement for Team Europe eligibility at the Ryder Cup, and the next edition is set for Adare Manor in Ireland in September 2027. A player who loses DP World Tour membership over a LIV contract is also, by extension, removing himself from Ryder Cup contention. That's the lever behind this policy: a tour-card decision that functions as a Ryder Cup decision.

Who actually faces the choice

Three players sit squarely inside this deadline as it's written. Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin, and Victor Perez are all LIV-contracted and currently eligible for DP World Tour membership under an existing category, which means each of them has to pick one tour by the deadlines above. None of the three has a reported exit in motion. For them, this is the choice Kinnings described: stay LIV, lose the DP World Tour card and the Ryder Cup path that comes with it, or leave LIV and keep both.

Hatton's situation carries extra weight because of what already happened under the old system. He played the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black while under a LIV contract, one of the arrangements the conditional release system was built to accommodate. Under the policy Kinnings announced, that accommodation ends. Hatton would need to leave LIV to keep that door open for Adare Manor in 2027, the same choice McKibbin and Perez now face on a smaller stage.

Jon Rahm's name turns up in the same reporting, but his situation isn't the same decision. Rahm's lawyer told a New Jersey bankruptcy court on October 7 that Rahm had rejected LIV's proposed "LIV 2.0" terms and wouldn't be continuing with the league, as we covered when the news broke. A separation agreement is reportedly targeted for October 15, with a November 5 court date standing as the fallback if that target slips. Rahm appears on the list of players currently eligible for DP World Tour membership only because that contract hasn't been formally closed yet, not because he is weighing which tour to choose. He has already made that call.

What to watch

The near-term calendar is the thing to track. October 15 is the target date for Rahm's separation agreement, with November 5 as the court-driven backstop if it isn't signed by then. October 25 is the date NBC Sports has attached to players declaring their LIV intentions. November 16 is when DP World Tour membership itself has to be settled, the hard deadline behind this entire policy.

Behind all of it sits the restructuring LIV itself is reportedly building for 2027, which we covered in August: a leaner schedule, smaller purses, and a reported equity structure that would hand players a majority stake in the league rather than guaranteed contracts alone. If that structure firms up with real terms attached, it changes what Hatton, McKibbin, and Perez are actually weighing against DP World Tour membership and Ryder Cup eligibility, rather than a straight pay comparison against the tour they'd be leaving.

The other pattern worth watching is attrition. Rahm isn't the only player reportedly looking to exit a LIV contract through the same bankruptcy proceedings, and a policy this firm gives any other wavering player a concrete reason to move before the October 25 and November 16 dates rather than after them. The next month will show whether Hatton, McKibbin, and Perez treat those deadlines as a decision point or let them pass by default.

Whatever those three decide individually, the broader signal is in the tool the DP World Tour chose to enforce this with. Fines and conditional release terms are negotiable and have been negotiated before. Ryder Cup eligibility isn't something a player can buy back later in the week. Tying tour membership directly to a Ryder Cup roster spot is a sharper piece of leverage than the tour has used in this dispute so far, and it's the detail that makes October 25 and November 16 worth watching closely rather than treating them as routine paperwork dates.