Henrik Stenson Resigns From DP World Tour Following Huge Fines Imposed on LIV Golfers

Henrik Stenson is the latest LIV Golfer to announce his resignation from the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour). He joins Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland as recent players to surrender their longtime memberships. 

Stenson’s move comes in the wake of the £100,000 fines imposed on DP World players who teed up in LIV Golf events. Their actions were considered breaches of the Tour’s conflicting event policy—players were not given permission by the DP World Tour to compete in LIV Golf’s tournaments. A UK arbitration panel recently upheld the organization’s right to impose such fines on its players, making a huge win for the DP World Tour. 

The Swede, who was replaced by Luke Donald at the 2023 Team Europe Ryder Cup captain, spoke to Golf Digest about his decision, expressing his disappointment about the overall expected outcome.  

“It is sad that it has come to this,” he told Golf Digest’s John Huggan. “But it is what it is and it certainly wasn’t unexpected. They left me with no other choice, so I have resigned. That’s it. I don’t really feel like it will do any good to dig into this too deeply. I’m appreciative of what the tour has done for me over the years. But they have chosen how they want to view the future. And we have obviously done the same. Unfortunately, they don’t go together at this point.”

The DP World Tour previously announced that a total of 17 players would be fined the £100,000 for playing in the first LIV Golf event, but they have since revealed that 26 golfers in total will face further sanctions. 

The Tour also pointed to Garcia as the only player of the initial 17 who has not yet paid the fine, adding that the Masters champion has not “given any indication that he intends to.” 

“I haven’t added up the number on how much I was fined,” Stenson continued. “It was anywhere between £50,000 and £75,000 per LIV event, which added up to a substantial amount. I don’t feel like me spilling the beans and airing my views on all this is actually going to be what I should do. Doing that is only going to make the situation even more infected than it already is. As was the case when I resigned the Ryder Cup captaincy, I have my views on a lot of things that have gone on. But out of respect for a lot of people and what they do—and even those I don’t totally respect—there is no point in me digging any deeper. There is less than half a year until the Ryder Cup so it is best I don’t say much other than to say I’ve resigned.”