DP World Tour chief 'still evaluating overall course of action' on players appearing in LIV Golf events

ByYara El-Shaboury

Updated 01/09/2022 at 15:13 GMT

After several players took part in the first event of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Invitational Series last week, the PGA Tour decided immediately that all participating players would be banned from their events. The DP World Tour have been more cautious in making its stance public, saying a decision on "potential sanctions for those breaching regulations" will likely be made on June 23.

DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley says his organisation is "still evaluating an overall course of action" in relation to potential player sanctions for those defecting to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series.

Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, took swift action against the players who took part in the series' inaugural tournament at the Centurion Club last week, announcing that they had been indefinitely suspended in a public statement released about half an hour into the event.

But the DP World Tour had not made any assertions on the situation until chief executive Keith Pelley sent a letter to all its members on Tuesday.

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Pelley's letter read: "Over the past two weeks, in discussion with many of you at our tournaments in Germany and Sweden, I have been asked countless times to give an update on our position in relation to our members who chose to play in both the Asian Tour event at Slaley Hall from June 2-5 and last week's LIV Golf event at the Centurion Club without releases.

"During the week commencing May 23, 2022, I wrote individually to all the players who submitted release requests for each tournament.

"In those letters, I informed them that if they were above the cut-off line at close of entries for our tournaments scheduled in the same weeks, we would refuse their requests for a release or releases to play in these conflicting events, something we firmly reserve the right to do in accordance with the regulations all members sign up to in our Members' General Regulations Handbook.

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"While some members respected this decision and subsequently retracted their requests, a number of members chose to ignore it by playing at either Slaley Hall or Centurion Club or, in some cases, at both.

"As I reminded all members in my message dated April 19, 2022, our conflicting event protocol was specifically designed in the best interests of your Tour, ensuring our sponsors, promoters and broadcast partners continue to get a strong return on their investments, thereby safeguarding vital revenue streams which ultimately provide your prize funds and playing opportunities.

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"During discussions in Sweden last week, and through additional private correspondence, some members asked me why we simply do not follow what the PGA Tour have done and immediately suspend these players. While I understand the frustration, I remind you all that although we work closely with the PGA Tour, we are different organisations and our rules and regulations are therefore different too.

"From many of your messages and my conversations, I know that many of you share the same viewpoint that Jay Monahan expressed in his note to PGA Tour members, namely that the players who have chosen this route have disrespected the vast majority of the members of this Tour.

"As for what we are going to do, because of the complexity of our situation we are still evaluating an overall course of action. We will use the next seven days to continue to assess the impact the two conflicting events in the UK had on our own tournaments played in those weeks (the Porsche European Open and the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed) as well as on your Tour overall.

Dustin Johnson greets Phil Mickelson on during day one of the LIV Golf Invitational - London at The Centurion Club on June 09, 2022 in St Albans, England

Image credit: Getty Images

"Part of this assessment will be discussions with our Board about the precise nature of any potential sanctions to be imposed on members who have breached our regulations. We will clarify our position next Thursday, June 23, the day entries close for the Genesis Scottish Open.

"As a result of this timeline, the field for next week's BMW International Open will not be affected, but please be aware that entry lists and fields for tournaments thereafter might well be."

The next DP World Tour event, the BMW International Open, is scheduled to take place from June 23-26 in Munich.

Several players who competed in the first LIV Golf event are set to participate, including Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia and Bernd Wiesberger.

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