The Genesis Scottish Open will be missing several big names from the field in two weeks.
On Friday, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley banned golfers who competed in the LIV Golf Series from three tournaments, including the Scottish Open, which is being co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour for the first time as part of a “strategic alliance” between the two circuits.
“Every action anyone takes in life comes with a consequence and it is no different in professional sport, especially if a person chooses to break the rules,” Pelley said. “That is what has occurred here with several of our members.”
The tour announced any players who took part in the inaugural LIV event would be ineligible from competing in the Scottish as well as the Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship, which are PGA Tour opposite-field events that are being co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour for the first time. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan previously suspended 17 players who violated Tour rules by competing in the LIV debut event. Pelley also announced that players would be fined 100,000 pounds, or approximately $123,000, and noted that participation in further conflicting tournaments without the required release “may incur further sanctions.”
“Many members I have spoken to in recent weeks expressed the viewpoint that those who have chosen this route have not only disrespected them and our Tour, but also the meritocratic ecosystem of professional golf that has been the bedrock of our game for the past half a century and which will also be the foundation upon which we build the next 50 years,” Pelley said. “Their actions are not fair to the majority of our membership and undermine the Tour, which is why we are taking the action we have announced today.”
Pelley’s announcement was released while several European Tour stars who have defected from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed rival league were competing at this week’s BMW International Open, including Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, and South African Louis Oosthuizen. Allowing LIV players to compete there citing different tour regulations from the PGA Tour made it appear that the DP World Tour might be a safe haven for pros banned indefinitely from the PGA Tour to play beyond LIV Golf’s eight events this season. But Pelley has closed that loophole at least for co-sanctioned events with the PGA Tour, for now.
Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who signed with LIV Golf this week, had been announced as part of the Scottish Open field, at The Renaissance Club from July 7-10. It has long been a popular warmup for the British Open the following week. The field is expected to include world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa, reigning PGA champion Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm.
Sky Sports News reported that fines for DP World Tour players are set to double for those playing in each future conflicting event. It also noted that LIV “will not pay the fines, only possible legal fees players incur for appealing the sanctions.”
