World Tour holds off on banning LIV players
Could the DP World Tour play a pivotal role in the future direction of men’s professional golf?
As first reported by Golf Digest, the circuit, which has long played second fiddle to the PGA Tour, is reportedly debating whether to take the next step to strengthen its “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour or jump into bed with LIV Golf.
Last week’s LIV Golf debut event included several DP World Tour members, including Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Richard Bland, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and Bernd Wiesberger.
While PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was quick to suspend any members who violated Tour regulations, Keith Pelley, the CEO of DP World Tour, remained quiet on the matter and several DP Tour members remain signed up for next week’s BMW International Open in Munich, Germany.
On Tuesday, Pelley broke his silence in a memo sent to players. “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,” Pelley wrote in a letter leaked to Golf Channel initially. “Namely that the players who have chosen this route have disrespected the vast majority of the members of this Tour.”
“Some members asked me why we simply do not follow what the PGA Tour have done and immediately suspend these players,” Pelley continued. “While I understand the frustration, I remind you all that although we work closely with the PGA Tour, we are different organizations and our rules and regulations are therefore different too.”
A decision on how violators of its policies will be dealt with will be handed down on June 23. That happens to be the same date as the commitment deadline for the Genesis Scottish Open, which for the first time is scheduled to be co-sanctioned by the two premier circuits.
That is if Pelley, who struck a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour in late 2020, doesn’t do an about-face and strike a relationship with upstart LIV Golf.
“I heard on Sunday that Pelley might be thinking of a U-turn,” a multiple-time DP World Tour winner told Golf Digest. “I think that is very disappointing. But I’m not surprised. Pelley has never been very truthful in what he has told the players. I understand you have to make some decisions that are best kept behind closed doors. But I think this is something that went too far down that path. We should have been told what was going on right from the start. The motivation for this I think is coming from the pressure Pelley is feeling from tournament sponsors. They won’t be liking the fact that they are losing some of their star players. … Pelley is not coming out of this too well. I think it will be the end of his reign. How can you go into a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour then six months later – after they found sponsors for the Irish Open and the Scottish Open – back-stab them like this?”
The Golf Digest story also noted that Pelley attended the LIV Golf Invitational Series debut event near London last week. On Wednesday, the DP World Tour released the following statement: “We are aware of some reports in the media that DP World Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley attended the event at Centurion Club last week. This is categorically untrue as Keith was in Sweden attending the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed tournament.”
What is clear is that Pelley is facing a critical decision that could play a key role in defining the future hierarchy of professional golf.