'There will be friction there' - LIV Golf's Martin Kaymer confirms he won't play at BMW PGA Championship
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Published 02/09/2022 at 14:47 GMT
The BMW PGA Championship is one of the flagship events on the DP World Tour, and there will be lots of eyes on Wentworth next week. There will be star names from the PGA Tour such as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick in action. There will be space added to the occasion by the appearance of a raft of LIV Golf players, but Martin Kaymer will not be among them.
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Martin Kaymer has confirmed he will not tee it up in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next week, with the LIV Golf player saying he does not want to deal with any animosity that may come his way.
The German, a two-time major champion, joined LIV earlier in the summer, and it resulted in him losing his ability to play on the PGA Tour as all LIV players were suspended.
The DP World Tour, the governing body in charge of the BMW PGA Championship, also handed down bans but an injunction has allowed players to compete before a court case is heard.
With LIV players banned from the PGA Tour and no ranking points on offer in its own events, options to keep their world ranking high are limited.
The BMW PGA Championship offers that chance, and a host of LIV players took the decision to enter next week’s event.
Kaymer’s name featured on the list, but he has taken the decision to pull out as he does not want to be made to feel unwelcome.
Some of his fellow LIV players have dismissed talk of animosity, claiming it has been blown out of proportion by the media, but Rory McIlroy said he would find it hard “to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks’ time and seeing 18 of them there.”
That sentiment was echoed by US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who said it would be “odd seeing certain people, obviously, at Wentworth.”
While the likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and a group of other LIV players appear unfazed, Kaymer has no interest in being made to feel uncomfortable.
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"There will be friction there, that's why I'm not going," Kaymer told Golf Digest. "I don't need to go to a place where, feel-wise, you're not that welcome. They don't say it, but [it's there].
"I do love the European Tour and I do like Wentworth; I think it's a flagship event that people like to participate in, but under those circumstances, I try to stay in the area where the energy is high, where the energy is positive.
“I don't know why I should fly to England, [and] be on the golf course for four or five days where you are not that welcome, I would say. It has nothing to do with the European Tour or the players or anything like that ... but where we are right now [in professional golf], I try to stay away. I will wait until everything settles."
LIV chief Greg Norman and PGA commissioner Jay Monahan have drawn battle lines, but Kaymer would like egos to be cast aside to find a place for all the tours to exist.
"The hope is there, absolutely," Kaymer said. "I just don't know if the main people in charge of all the tours ... are able to put egos and personal stuff behind and focus on the big picture in the game of golf.
“I think it's very good for the game of golf what's happening with LIV and what's happening with the PGA Tour now. All those things are good for the players, and I do hope and do believe in maybe two or three years things will change and will turn out good."
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