LIV Golf's Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood Resign DP World Tour Memberships
Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland have resigned their DP World Tour memberships in the wake of sanctions placed on them due to their playing in LIV Golf League events, which was recently upheld by a UK arbitration panel.
The DP World Tour in a release announced that the four players had resigned and reaffirmed its stance that fines of £100,000 per tournament were justified.
"Their resignations, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices," the DP World Tour said in a statement. "As we have consistently maintained through the past year, the Tour has a responsibility to its entire membership to administer the member regulations which each player signs up to. These regulations are in place to protect the collective interests of DP World Tour members."
When DP World Tour members competed in LIV Golf's debut event in London event last year, the tour imposed fines for violating the conflicting events rules—which LIV said it would pay.
Several players sought a court ruling to be able to compete in the Scottish Open a few weeks later, which was allowed pending the results of the arbitration panel. The panel met for the first time in February and announced its ruling on April 6, siding with the DP World Tour.
The DP World Tour said in its statement that the ruling assured that its "application in the circumstances did not go beyond what was necessary and proportionate to the Tour’s continued operation as a professional golf tour and that we have a legitimate interest in protecting the rights of our full membership by enforcing it."
Westwood, Garcia and Poulter are among the most accomplished players in what was formerly the European Tour, especially as it relates to the Ryder Cup. Westwood’s 25 victories are eighth all time. Garcia won 16 times including the 2017 Masters while Poulter won 10 times.
In the Ryder Cup, Westwood holds the record for most matches played and had a 21-20-6 record. Garcia was 25-13-7 and Poulter went 15-8-2.