The DP World Tour have today announced punishments for the Saudi golf defectors with the sport's civil war escalating. A number of the Tour's biggest names - including Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter - made the controversial LIV Golf switch ahead of the inaugural event earlier this month.
In response to those who chose to sign on the dotted line with Greg Norman's new golfing empire, the PGA Tour issued suspensions to the rebels, with US stars such as Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau all being handed the punishment.
Two weeks on, their European allies at the DP World Tour have now followed suit with sanctions of their own, issuing all those competing on the breakaway circuit £100,000 fines for competing without permission from the Wentworth-based tour.
As well as this, the Saudi golf rebels will also be banned from competing in the Genesis Scottish Open, the Barbasol Championship (July 7-10) and the Barracuda Championship (July 14-17). All three tournaments are co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour.
The second event of the controversial LIV Golf Series will get underway in Portland next week, after its circuit opener at Centurion Club, St Albans in early June. The DP World Tour's have however threatened further sanctions to those players who continue to defect without permission.
In a statement the tour's CEO Keith Pelley said: "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. That is what has occurred here with several of our members.
“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.
“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 went on to add that the money collected from the fines will be put into the prize pots of DP World Tour events, as well as going to charity.
He added: "Money raised from the fines, incidentally, will be shared equally in two ways: it will be added to prize funds of upcoming tournaments on the DP World Tour, to the benefit of members of the DP World Tour who have complied with the release rules, and will be distributed through the tour’s 'Golf for Good' programme to deserving charitable causes in the communities that the DP World Tour plays."
