LIV Golf’s Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood will now “likely rescind their memberships with the DP World Tour”, claims report.
The DP World Tour has won the Sports Resolutions arbitration hearing against LIV Golf players whose £100,000 fines for competing in the inaugural LIV tournament have been upheld, according to The Times.
The latest news on the eve of The Masters this week means that all LIV Golf players competing in DP World Tour tournaments will be eligible for further fines and suspensions moving forwards.
According to The Times’ report, “the arbitration panel’s decision is set to be announced early as Thursday afternoon.”
This will of course mean it will fall at the same time as the opening round of golf’s first major of the season at Augusta National.
To bring you up to speed with what has happened the past nine months, a number of DP World Tour players had asked for releases in order to play in the LIV Golf London event in June 2022, which marked the first tournament on the Saudi-backed circuit.
That event at Centurion Club in Hertfordshire clashed with the DP World Tour’s ‘Scandinavian Mixed’ event.
Such players were denied releases, but they disregarded them and played at LIV Golf London anyway.
Two weeks later in July, the DP World Tour announced these players would be fined £100,000 and suspended for two tournaments – the co-sanctioned Scottish Open and Barbasol Championship.
Three players – Ian Poulter, Justin Harding and Adrian Otaegui – went on to challenge this fine and ruling at large, and the punishment was ‘stayed’.
This meant all LIV Golf players who held DP World Tour cards could continue to compete on the former European Tour circuit, just as they have done since last summer in between their LIV Golf schedule.
In total, the number of appellants reached 16 players, however, Sergio Garcia, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel removed their names from the case.
That left 13 players in total: Poulter, Harding, Otaegui, Lee Westwood, Sam Horsfield, Richard Bland, Shaun Norris, Laurie Canter, Wade Ormsby, Patrick Reed, Bernd Wiesberger, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer.
But today’s latest news means all of these current LIV Golf players will now face continued fines and punishments should they continue to compete on the DP World Tour.
As The Times report indicates, the likes of Poulter and Westwood “are now likely to rescind their memberships with the DP World Tour to avoid the threat of future sanctions and suspensions.”
That would then also mean they will more than likely no longer be eligible to contribute to the European Ryder Cup team as a player or captain.
The Times report reads as follows:
“The DP World Tour has won its legal battle against LIV players and will now be able to impose sanctions of £100,000 fines on players who participate in conflicting events without a release.
“The ruling, after a Sports Resolutions arbitration hearing, means that the likes of Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are now likely to rescind their memberships with the DP World Tour to avoid the threat of future sanctions and suspensions.
“Each LIV player will also be fined £100,000 for playing in the inaugural LIV London event in June without a release.
“The arbitration panel’s decision is set to be announced as early as Thursday afternoon, coinciding with the opening day of The Masters.”
After hearing the latest news, Barstool Sports’ Dan Rapaport tweeted:
“Big domino here—lays the groundwork for banning LIV guys from the Ryder Cup. That, in my opinion, would be a mistake. But this is a significant legal victory for DP World Tour and, by association, the PGA Tour.”
Source : Golf Magic
