Report: LIV Golf Players Set To Resign From DP World Tour Amid Threat Of Huge Fines
Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace are reportedly among the LIV Golf players considering resigning from the DP World Tour
Ryder Cup legends Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter resigned from the DP World Tour last week, and more LIV Golf players are reportedly set to follow.
According to The Telegraph’s Golf Correspondent James Corrigan, remaining DP World Tour members who play on the newer circuit face the prospect of £500,000 fines (approximately $630,000) this week for teeing it up on the newer circuit without the Tour’s permission.
The power to impose such fines has come the way of the DP World Tour following an arbitration hearing that ruled in its favour against LIV Golf players, who had hoped to continue playing on the Tour without facing sanctions.
LIV Golf players including Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey, Brandon Grace and Charl Schwartzel are still members of the DP World Tour, but there is increasing doubt as to how long that will remain the case given the punishments they face for continuing on the rival circuit. Indeed, the Telegraph reports that the latter two are particularly close to following Garcia, Westwood and Poulter in handing in their resignations.
Last year, it was revealed that LIV Golf would pay the fines of the 17 players who competed in its inaugural event in London, amounting to £1.7m, and it is reported that it transferred £700,000 to the DP World Tour before last week’s deadline, but didn’t specify which seven players the payment relate to. There is also uncertainty over whether LIV Golf would be willing to continue paying fines of players who wish to retain their memberships.
Nevertheless, according to a Telegraph source, several players remain keen to stay on the DP World Tour. The source revealed: “At the meeting the players held in the LIV event at Singapore a number made it clear that they wanted to retain their Tour memberships, but it is evidently going to be costly.
“Some reports said the players could be hit with bills of £1m each, but that was never likely. But the fines will be eye-watering, nonetheless, and could keep rising the more LIV events that they play in.”
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The Telegraph also reports that, while Westwood and Poulter have settled their fines for their Centurion Club appearance, Garcia is yet to pay. Meanwhile, the Tour is also considering fining the trio for subsequent appearances for LIV Golf.
Following the resignations of the three players last week, the DP World Tour released a statement thanking them for their contributions to the Tour, but it also stressed that “their resignations… along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.”
This week, the players are preparing to compete in the LIV Golf Oklahoma event. Whether the field will contain more former DP World Tour players by could soon become clear.
Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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