Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and fellow Rebels who have left the World Tour ‘still NOT ELIGIBLE for Ryder Cup’ despite PGA/LIV merger
Despite the amazing merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, nine golfers who have canceled their DP World Tour membership to join the Saudi Arabian-backed league will not be eligible for the Ryder Cup later this year.
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV stunningly ended their bitter two-year dispute and announced an agreement to merge and form one unified commercial entity.
However, the process for LIV defectors to be reinstated won’t begin until after the 2023 season is complete, meaning high-profile names like Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter will have to wait to return to the Ryder Cup.
“There have been several suggestions that with the joint commitment to end further litigation between the parties, it also means that our sanctions against players who break our rules will be lifted,” Keith Pelley, CEO of DP World Tour, wrote in a statement. memo to players obtained by ESPN on Wednesday.
DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley said in a memo obtained by ESPN that players who have canceled their World Tour membership to join LIV will not be eligible for this year’s Ryder Cup.
That list also includes Sergio Garcia, one of nine golfers to give up DP World Tour status
‘That is not the case. The previously imposed suspensions and fines remain in force.’
A ruling by the Sport Resolutions panel in April found that the World Tour had the right to ban players such as Garcia, Westwood and Poulter from the Ryder Cup for participating in the Saudi-funded competition.
Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Richard Bland, Martin Kaymer, Dean Burmester and Abraham Ancer have also resigned from the DP World Tour and are therefore ineligible for this year’s Ryder Cup.
The tournament will take place from September 29 to October 1 at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside Rome.
According to the memo Pelley wrote, players who resigned and wanted reinstatement had to notify the DP World Tour before May 1, but none of them did.
While the merger ends the ongoing process between the PGA and LIV, it doesn’t mean the tensions in the sport will be over.
Lee Westwood (L) and Ian Poulter were also among those who canceled their World Tour membership
First, players like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama turned down eye-watering sums from LIV Golf to stay loyal to the PGA Tour, only to see the Tours merge.
Those players, and others, will be forced to struggle with defectors like Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau eventually reinstated.
In addition, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said less than a year ago that a potential merger with LIV was “off the table.”
So PGA members were unsurprisingly stunned when they heard the news – which they first saw on Twitter.
“Shocked and confused,” an unidentified golfer told Dan Rapaport of Barstool.
“Indignant,” said another. “They didn’t tell us.”
Victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack also tore the PGA’s decision to merge with LIV Gulf, while denouncing Saudi Arabia’s role in the tragedy.
One group, 9/11 Families United, released a statement condemning the merger, saying its members are “appalled and deeply offended.”
“PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan last year co-opted the 9/11 community into the PGA’s unequivocal agreement that the Saudi LIV project was nothing more than a polishing of Saudi Arabia’s reputation,” said chairman Terry Strada, whose husband died north of the World Trade Center. Tower.
In 2022, Monahan, while sympathetic to the families of 9/11, seemed staunchly opposed to any merger with LIV Golf.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wrote a memo to players on Tuesday (pictured)
“I think you have to live under a rock not to know there are significant implications and as for the families of 9/11 — I have two families close to me that have lost loved ones,” Moynahan told CBS . in 2022.
The 9/11 attacks were carried out by 19 terrorists, including 15 Saudi nationals. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was also born in Saudi Arabia.
LIV Golf has been criticized for its ties to Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF), with critics accusing the kingdom of “sporting” its human rights record. LIV defectors, meanwhile, have been pilloried for accusations of greed.
LIV Golf is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has committed at least $2 billion to the circuit.