The DP World Tour has won its battle against LIV Golf, at least in the court room. The Tour has claimed a legal victory over the rival golf league and will now be allowed to go forward with imposing sanctions of £100,000 ($124,788) on players who compete in conflicting events without a release, The Times Sports reported Tuesday.
In Layman’s terms: The likes of Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and the rest of the LIV lot are likely to vacate their memberships on the DP World Tour in order to avoid sanctions. Those playing for LIV Golf have made a habit of participating in choice DP World Tour events — such as the Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and Dubai Desert Classic — in order to accrue Official World Golf Rankings points, which LIV Golf events do not receive.
Talor Gooch’s actions outline the importance of this decision as he needed, and ultimately received, crucial OWGR points ahead of the BMW PGA Championship this past fall to stay inside the top 50 of the rankings by year’s end. Gooch effectively earned his invitation into the 2023 Masters when he finished in solo fourth at Wentworth.
That door is now closed.
This ruling all spurs from the first LIV Golf tournament when the DP World Tour attempted to suspend those who played in the LIV Golf London event. Sport Resolutions, an arbitration and mediation service in the United Kingdom, issued a stay of said suspensions the DP World Tour shelled out to Ian Poulter, Adrian Otaegui and Justin Harding. That allowed them to play in the Scottish Open, a co-sanctioned event with the PGA Tour.
With this new decision, those three players are now responsible for forking over the original £100,000 penalty.
At the time, a number of LIV Golf players penned a letter to DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley to have the fines and suspensions lifted. Pelley fought back with an open letter published on the DP World Tour website.
“There has been a leak to the media of a letter we received on behalf of a number of LIV Golf players which contains so many inaccuracies that it cannot remain unchallenged,” Pelley wrote. “Before joining LIV Golf, players knew there would be consequences if they chose money over competition. Many of them at the time understood and accepted that. Indeed, as one player named in the letter said in a media interview earlier this year; ‘If they ban me, they ban me.’ It is not credible that some are now surprised with the actions we have taken.”