LIV rebels who are also part of the DP World Tour can be fined £500,000. Photo: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images
DP World Tour is poised to hit LIV Golf rebels with unprecedented fines of up to £500,000 and expect more big names to drop their memberships, especially as it becomes clear penalties will continue to pile up the longer they stay in the league funded by Saudi Arabia.
All eyes will be on the likes of Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer to see if they are willing to face the increasing penalties for playing in LIV tournaments without the permission of Tour chief executive Keith Pelley.
It is believed that former Masters champion Charl Schwarzel and Branden Grace, another South African who made history at the 2017 Open by scoring his first 62 goals in major tournaments, are about to give up.
The Telegraph Sport reported last week that Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia left the Tour following an arbitration hearing that gave Wentworth HQ the green light to sanction players who joined the breakaway league.
While Westwood and Poulter paid a £100,000 fine suffered by 17 golfers for June's first $25 million LIV at St Albans, Garcia still refuses to send his check.
< p>The Tour will take the legal path to demand money from Garcia — the top scorer in Ryder Cup history — and it is understandable that he is considering demanding that the trio also pay sanctions for participating in the 12 LIV tournaments. which followed this opening 11 months ago.
However, the Tour may decide to avoid another legal battle and announce that anyone who wants to return or play in future events must pay off their six-figure debts first.
The difficult situation is further compounded by the fact that LIV makes different deals with different players and seems to have paid fines for some and not for others. LIV is believed to have transferred £700,000 to Tur shortly before last Wednesday's deadline, but without identifying the seven golfers to whom it was transferring.
Will the Saudi-funded league continue shelling out for a rival? «At the players' meeting held at the LIV in Singapore [two weeks ago], some made it clear that they want to keep their Tour membership, but it will obviously be expensive,» the insider said. “Some reports have suggested players could be billed £1m each, but this is unlikely. However, the penalties will be huge and can increase as the number of LIVs they enter increases.”
Westwood said in an interview with Telegraph Sport last week that he wants to «move on» and not have «a cloud of Tour punishments hanging over me.» “I really hope that now that I have retired, I will not be fined again — I am no longer a member,” he added. “I believe that in my 30 years as a cardholder, I have made a big contribution to the Tour.”
The 50-year-old admits that under the current circumstances, he will no longer participate in Ryder. Cup, either as a player, or as a vice-captain or captain, and believes that «it is a pity that Europe will lose the experience that Sergio, Jan and I have accumulated over the years.»
On the contrary, the Americans intend to include their Ryder Cup veterans — even those who experienced more failures than successes in the two-year turmoil. To the surprise of almost no one, Zach Johnson, Team USA captain, announced on Monday that he had named Jim Furyk as one of his vice-captains for the September match in Rome.
"Jim and I have been friends for over 20 years. years" Johnson said. «He's an amazing leader, mentor and someone I trust.»
As a player, Furik appeared on nine US teams in a row, winning only twice, and in 2018 he became the losing captain in Paris.
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