Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and other rebels who quit World Tour ‘still INELIGIBLE for Ryder Cup’ despite PGA and LIV merger
Despite the explosive merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, nine golfers who resigned from their DP World Tour membership to join the Saudi-backed league will remain ineligible for the Ryder Cup later this year.
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV surprisingly ended their bitter two-year dispute and announced an agreement to merge and form a unified business entity.
However, the process of reinstating LIV defectors will only begin after the end of the 2023 season, meaning marquee names such as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter will have to wait to return to the Ryder Cup.
“There have been several suggestions that, along with the joint commitment to end further litigation between the parties, this also means that our sanctions against players who have violated our rules will be lifted,” the CEO wrote. DP World Tour, Keith Pelley, in a note to players obtained by ESPN Wednesday.
DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley said in a memo obtained by ESPN that players who have resigned from their World Tour membership to join LIV will not be eligible for this year’s Ryder Cup.
This list includes Sergio Garcia, one of nine golfers to relinquish DP World Tour status
‘This is not the case. Previously imposed suspensions and fines remain in effect.
A Sport Resolutions panel ruling in April found the World Tour was within its rights to ban players such as Garcia, Westwood and Poulter from the Ryder Cup for playing in the Saudi-funded league.
Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Richard Bland, Martin Kaymer, Dean Burmester and Abraham Ancer have also resigned from the DP World Tour and will therefore remain ineligible for this year’s Ryder Cup.
The tournament is scheduled for September 29 to October 1 at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside Rome.
According to the memo Pelley wrote, players who quit and wanted to be reinstated had to notify the DP World Tour by May 1, but none of them did.
Although the merger ends the ongoing litigation between the PGA and the LIV, it does not mean that tensions will be over in the sport.
Lee Westwood (L) and Ian Poulter were also among those to resign from their World Tour memberships
On the one hand, players like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama turned down eye-watering sums from LIV Golf to stay loyal to the PGA Tour only to see the Tours merge.
These players, and others, will be forced to fight defectors like Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau who will eventually be reinstated.
Additionally, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said less than a year ago that a potential merger with LIV was “out of order.”
PGA members were therefore surprised to hear the news – which they first saw on Twitter.
“Shocked and confused,” an unidentified golfer told Barstool’s Dan Rapaport.
“Disgusted,” said another. “They didn’t tell us anything.
Victims of the 9/11 terror attack have also torn apart the PGA’s decision to merge with LIV Golf, while denouncing Saudi Arabia’s role in the tragedy.
One group, 9/11 Families United, issued a statement condemning the merger, saying its members were “shocked and deeply offended”.
“PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan co-opted the 9/11 community last year into the PGA’s unequivocal agreement that Saudi Project LIV was nothing more than sporting reputation washing. of Saudi Arabia,” said President Terry Strada, whose husband died north of the World Trade Center. Tower.
In 2022, while sympathizing with the 9/11 families, Monahan seemed strongly opposed to any merger with LIV Golf.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wrote a note to players on Tuesday (pictured)
“I think you would have to live under a rock not to know that there are significant implications and as far as 9/11 families are concerned – I have two families close to me who have lost loved ones,” Moynahan told CBS. in 2022.
The September 11 attacks were perpetrated by 19 terrorists, including 15 Saudi nationals. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was also born in Saudi Arabia.
LIV Golf has come under fire for its links to Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF), with critics accusing the kingdom of ‘washing the sport’ of its human rights record. LIV’s defectors, meanwhile, have been pilloried over allegations of greed.
LIV Golf is heavily funded by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which has committed at least $2 billion to the circuit.
