PGA Tour Suspends Current and Former Players Now Competing in LIV Golf
In a letter addressed to PGA Tour players on Thursday — released shortly after the competing LIV Golf Invitational Series began its first event — commissioner Jay Monahan announced that all current and future LIV Golf players, 17 in all, were suspended and no longer eligible for PGA Tour tournament play.
The letter specified that the move would include all tours sanctioned by the PGA Tour, as well as the Presidents Cup.
The LIV Golf players, the letter says, "did not receive the necessary conflicting event and media rights releases — or did not apply for releases at all — and their participation in the Saudi Golf League/LIV Golf event is in violation of our Tournament Regulations."
If players wish to come back in the future, the letter says that "we're prepared to deal with those questions, and we'll approach them in the same way we have this entire process: by being transparent and respecting the PGA Tour regulations you helped establish."
The letter went on to say that the expectation of LIV Golf players to continue to receive benefits and opportunities from the PGA Tour "disrespects you, our fans and our partners."
The bottom of the letter included a full list of LIV Golf players who had PGA Tour memberships, and noted that Sergio Garcia, Branden Grace, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen, Turk Pettit, Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood have informed the PGA Tour that they have resigned their membership.
Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, Phil Mickelson, Andy Ogletree, Ian Poulter, Hudson Swafford and Peter Uihlein have not resigned memberships. Mickelson said Wednesday that he had earned his PGA Tour lifetime membership and that "I don't plan on just giving it up."
LIV Golf responded with a statement of its own, calling the PGA Tour's letter "vindictive."
"Today's announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive and it deepens the divide between the Tour and its members. It's troubling that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking players from playing," the statement reads. "This is certainly not the last word on the topic. The era of free agency is beginning as we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London, and beyond."