The DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, begins at Wentworth this week, but it’s already proving controversial.
That is largely down to the appearance of 18 LIV Golf players at the event. Last week, DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley confirmed his stance on the LIV Golf players taking part in the tournament – namely, that they would be excluded from the pro-am, encouraged not to wear LIV Golf apparel and would not be included in TV featured groups.
Video: What Is LIV Golf?
According to a report from The Telegraph’s golf correspondent, James Corrigan, there has now been a tense exchange between Pelley and LIV Golf players including Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia at the Tour’s AGM that took place on Monday morning at Wentworth.
The report states that players flew to the meeting immediately after the Boston LIV Golf Invitational Series event in a plane chartered by the Saudi-backed organisation. However, while the players were reportedly looking for clarity over the Tour’s strategic alliance with the PGA Tour, as well as any further sanctions that may be coming their way after signing up for the Series, it seems it wasn’t forthcoming.
The report quotes an unnamed DP World Tour player as being impressed by the way Pelley handled the meeting. He said: “KP batted well. He stuck his ground and handled it with aplomb.” However, that apparently wasn’t the view of everyone in attendance, with one LIV Golf player reportedly saying: “We didn’t get in as many questions as we wanted and Keith just kept replying that ‘we’re in the middle of an ongoing legal case, so I can’t give you an answer.’ He also said that the DP World Tour was a pathway to the PGA Tour, but wouldn’t say ‘feeder tour’. At least, his answers are down in writing now.”
LIV Golf players who haven’t resigned their PGA Tour memberships have been suspended from the Tour, and it has now been confirmed that the bans will be extended for the 2022/23 season. Meanwhile, an injunction placed on the DP World Tour means it is unable to suspend the…
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