Tag: LIV Golf Invitational Series

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DP World Tour not set to punish player for competing in LIV Golf events

PGA Tour continues to discuss lucrative fall options, include team events

In a memo to players last week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan informed those who defied the circuit’s regulations and played the first LIV Golf event that they would be indefinitely suspended.

Monahan’s swift reaction to those who violated the Tour’s policy, a group that included Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, was predictable. Meanwhile, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley remained noticeably quiet on the showdown between professional golf’s established tours and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. That changed on Tuesday.

“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 memo to his players. “Namely that the players who have chosen this route have disrespected the vast majority of the members of this Tour.”


BY Doug Ferguson


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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan spoke out Sunday on players leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf.

DP World Tour players had previously been informed that they would not be able to play the LIV Golf event or the Asian Tour invitational series event, which were both played in London, if they were eligible to play that week’s event on the European circuit. But unlike the PGA Tour, Pelley didn’t answer with swift suspensions.

“Some members asked me why we simply do not follow what the PGA Tour have done and immediately suspend these players,” Pelley’s memo to his constituency read. “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.”

Instead, Pelley said because of the “complexity of our situation,” he will evaluate how the LIV Golf and Asian Tour events impacted the DP World Tour events played the same weeks – the European Open and Scandinavian Mixed event. Pelley said the circuit will decide how to handle those who violated its policies on June 23, which is also the commitment deadline for the Scottish Open. The Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.

Last week’s LIV Golf event featured numerous DP World Tour members, including Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland.

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Saudi league contacts world’s top amateurs to play in events

Saudi league contacts world’s top amateurs to play in events

After its efforts to lure the top professionals in the world backfired, the new Saudi-funded startup league is going after the world’s best amateurs.

According to a Telegraph report, the top six players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking have been extended one-year invites to compete in all eight events of this year’s inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series, which begins next month in London. It is unclear when the invitations were sent out and which players were in the top six at the time.

“We did invite several amateurs as part of our mission to develop the next generation of golf talent,” a LIV spokesperson told the Telegraph. “They can stay amateur or turn pro.”

GolfChannel.com has confirmed that at least two of the current top six amateurs have been contacted by LIV Golf, but further details could not be disclosed.

The report adds that such amateurs would have the opportunity to earn guaranteed paydays of $840,000 total for the first seven events, the equivalent of finishing last in each, and the chance to compete for $4 million winner’s checks and percentages of the $90 million team prize pool.

However, the report also mentions that amateurs cannot earn prize money in PGA Tour and DP World Tour events because of those tours’ specific policies, which is not completely accurate. Even new rules regarding name, image and likeness, as well as the USGA’s rules of amateur status, stipulate that amateurs cannot earn prize money. And currently, there are NCAA-eligibility hurdles for international players in obtaining NIL deals, which would be one way for LIV Golf to financially compensate current amateurs.


BY Ryan Lavner


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Lee Westwood confirmed he has asked the PGA and DP World tours for a conflicting-event release to play in the first LIV event next month.

Of the six players in the latest WAGR, updated Wednesday morning, four of them play college golf and only one is expected to turn professional after the NCAA Championship this June. So, it’s assumed that any acceptance of prize money at these LIV events would cause such player to forfeit his amateur status and, in some cases, his NCAA eligibility.

The report also notes that a spokesperson said the league “would allow amateurs quickly to change their status and earn unprecedented sums to kick-start their careers,” and the amateurs would also be extended Asian Tour membership.