DP World Tour will not interfere in timing of LIV golfers’ appeals against sanctions

Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk have all appealed against the monetary sanctions handed down for competing on the Saudi-funded breakaway without permission.

That means they are allowed to play enough DP World Tour events this season to retain their membership and be eligible for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

No date or deadline has been set for the appeal, leading two-time DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell to suggest that it will not take place until after Europe's bid for a first win on American soil since 2012.

"I think the hearing, from what I've heard, is not going to take place until after the Ryder Cup, conveniently for probably all sides," Pepperell said on The Chipping Forecast podcast.

Speaking to a group of reporters during the BMW PGA Championship, Kinnings said: "There are those that may have said that to you.

"There are others who have looked at it and said, 'Hey we're glad that what you're doing is enforcing the rules that apply to all of the members'.

"At the end of the day, there's a legal process. The lawyers involved will dictate the legal process as to when it gets done.

"There's one of two things - have the appeal and the decision gets made by the legal process, but in parallel with that there will be ongoing conversations about the future of the game which may or may not impact how things like the fines and that process gets handled."

Asked if the appeals process was a tactic to play for time, Kinnings added: "That's not the reason we've done it. We work within the rules of the legal process and there's no strict, set formula for that."

Players who initially joined LIV in June 2022 appealed against their suspensions and fines and were able to compete until April 2023, when an arbitration panel found in favour of the DP World Tour and ratified its right to enforce its regulations.

Two months later, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) - which bankrolls LIV Golf - announced they had signed a "framework agreement" aimed at ending golf's civil war.

Talks have been going on ever since and Kinnings attended the latest round in New York last week, which fell on the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the city.

That infuriated the families of victims, with 9/11 Justice president Brett Eagleson calling them "completely tone deaf". Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in 2001 were Saudi citizens, although the Saudi government has always denied any involvement in the attacks.

"Unfortunately we didn't set the time frame, didn't set the agenda," Kinnings said.

"The intention was to try and do the right things for the sport but if anyone felt upset by that, then of course I would apologise to them because I only feel deep sympathy for those people who were caught up in that."