Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood among 4 who officially resigned from DP World Tour after leaving for LIV Golf
Several notable LIV Golf members officially resigned from the DP World Tour on Wednesday amid what has been a lengthy battle between the European circuit and its players.
Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Richard Bland and Lee Westwood officially resigned from the Tour, the league announced in a statement. That came after they were “sanctioned for serious breaches” after leaving for the controversial Saudi Arabian-backed golf league last year.
“The DP World Tour would like to take this opportunity to thank the four players for the contribution they have made to the Tour and in particular to Sergio, Ian and Lee for the significant part they have played in Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup over many years,” the Tour said in a statement, in part.
“Their resignations, however, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.”
Like the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour has punished its players for leaving for LIV Golf. The league has hit players with fines and suspensions for playing in conflicting events without permission, something a United Kingdom-based panel upheld in a lengthy legal battle.
The DP World Tour provided LIV golfers the opportunity to still earn Official World Golf Ranking points, something they can’t do with LIV Golf, and still allows European members to be eligible to play in the Ryder Cup. Garcia, Poulter, Bland and Westwood are now officially out of that conversation ahead of the next tournament this fall in Rome.
The resignations Wednesday shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially when it comes to Garcia. The former Masters winner has been very outspoken about his support for LIV Golf, and even called out Rory McIlroy specifically in recent months for not siding with him on the issue. Garcia got into it with a reporter ahead of the Masters last month about LIV Golf, too.
Westwood has joined him. He called out the PGA Tour for being “hypocrites” after it changed certain rules to try and compete with LIV Golf last fall. Westwood, like plenty of others in the league, is just content ignoring all of the “sportswashing” criticism that he and the Saudi Arabian-backed league are getting.
“The questions on the Saudi government and their policies are unanswerable,” Westwood said last fall. “My response is just to try and not answer them. I’m not a politician. I’m a golfer.”
