DP World Tour boss Keith Pelley faces tough meetings with LIV Golf players
A number of LIV Golf players flew in from Boston for a meeting with Keith Pelley on Monday, followed by another meeting at Wentworth on Tuesday evening.
DP World Tour boss Keith Pelley faced an easier time on Tuesday night than Monday when a number of LIV Golf players attended a fiery meeting.
According to the Telegraph, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia all put questions to Pelley on Monday regarding details of the strategic alliance between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour.
They also wanted answers on the sanctions placed on LIV Golf players such as the $100,000 fines that were administered to those who joined the Saudi-backed series ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open back in July. These punishments are the subject of ongoing legal proceedings.
One LIV player didn't get the answers that they wanted from Monday's events. "We didn't get in as many questions as we wanted and Keith just kept replying that 'we're in the middle of an ongoing legal case, so I can't give you an answer'," an unnamed player said.
One player defended Pelley. "KP batted well. He stuck his ground and handled it with aplomb." The LIV players who attended the meeting arrived just 10 hours after Dustin Johnson holed the winning putt at the Boston Invitational.
The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth won't just play host to the best European players on the planet, but 18 players who have made the switch to Greg Norman's breakaway series.
More players attended a meeting at Virginia Water on Tuesday night, but as reported by John Huggan of Golf Digest, this meeting lasted around 20 minutes where very little was discussed.
Garcia, Poulter, Abraham Ancer, Graeme McDowell, Bernd Wiesberger and Wade Ormsby all attended, but one unnamed DP World Tour player was surprised at how little they had to say.
This player said that Ian Poulter read three questions to Pelley as "if they'd been written by a lawyer." Poulter is one of the seven remaining names on the list of plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning at the Old European Tour's flagship event, Pelley used the example of Louis Oosthuizen in the conduct he expects from players who have defected.
He showed frustration at the DP World Tour being described as a "feeder tour" and the "fifth best tour in the world." He also dismissed rumours that Golf Saudi made a $1 billion offer to the circuit in the now infamous 'Malta meeting'. Allegedly, it was just a presentation from Golf Saudi.
Pelley, who became the tour's CEO in 2015, said he would shake the hand of a LIV Golf player were they to win this week in Surrey and he also expressed excitement for the upcoming Hero Cup in January 2023.
