Lee Westwood has expressed his sadness at resigning from the DP World Tour, but still feels sanctions against him and his other LIV Golf colleagues were unjustified while hitting out at Keith Pelley for “jumping into bed” with the PGA Tour.
Westwood, along with Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland all resigned from the DP World Tour after being hit with fines for playing in the first LIV Golf event in London last year.
After Pelley’s organisation won an arbitration ruling in their favour, Westwood decided to call it quits on the DP World Tour after a stellar career – to avoid repeat fines and to try and move on from the entire sorry saga.
The 50-year-old told The Telegraph’s James Corrigan that he decided to pay his fine and move on, but still feels wronged by the entire situation.
“I’ve had amazing times, including all those Ryder Cups,” Westwood told The Telegraph.
“I wouldn’t change those years for the world and feel I made a contribution to the tour. I never would have believed it had ended like this and there has to be a bit of sadness, of course.
“At my age, sure it was maybe easier to choose to resign. But this wasn’t a straightforward decision and not one I have taken lightly at all.
“I mulled it over and just didn’t like the thought of the tour continuously hitting us with more fines and bans that would have been hanging over me. I’ve paid my fine out of respect for the arbitration panel and have then taken the decisions out of the tour’s hands. I honestly want to move on.”
Lee Westwood Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter at LIV Golf
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Westwood hit back at critics who say the LIV players knew they were risking their futures on the tour, saying that for years they’ve been allowed to play on the PGA Tour and internationally.
And the irony of a major problem being Saudi Arabia, where the DP World Tour hosted an event, is not lost on the Worksop golfer.
“People say I knew exactly what would happen, but nobody told us the extent of the punishments,” he said. “And they continue to do that.
“The way I view it is that, as a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years. Tell me, what is the difference? Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis – a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play?”
I don’t want to play under that sort of regime
Another bugbear of the Englishman is the strategic alliance…
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