DP World Tour official after Lee Westwood criticism? "The players requested it"

A DP World Tour official has clarified players requested a break in the season after Lee Westwood criticised the schedule with the Ryder Cup on the horizon.

Ben Smith

27 Jul 2023

DP World Tour official after Lee Westwood criticism? "The players requested it" — DP World Tour official after Lee Westwood criticism? "The players…

Lee Westwood caught the headlines earlier in the week as he blasted Golf Digest for describing the 151st Open as 'a dud'.

Not only that, he also had a few things to say about the DP World Tour's schedule given we are rapidly approaching the 2023 Ryder Cup.

"There are six weeks left in the race to make the Europe team, but only three events on the DP World Tour," Westwood wrote in a Telegraph Sport column.

More:

Ryder Cup 2023: Who is in and who is out?

The last event on the European DP World Tour was the co-sanctioned Barracuda Championship. That was won by an emotional Akshay Bhatia.

There will not be another event until the tour heads to Northern Ireland for the ISPS Handa World Invitational which will be played over 17-20 August.

Westwood continued:

"In my opinion, it is a crying shame there are no tournaments on the circuit for the next three weeks.

"It is the middle of the summer! Fans will be itching to watch golf after the Open and I can assure you, players will be twiddling their thumbs, desperate to tee it up in competition."

Well, the break was reportedly requested by tour members.

Steve Todd, the deputy communications director of the DP World Tour, has clarified to Golfshake:

"The reason for the break is that it was something the players requested via the Tournament Committee last year – to build breaks into the season.

"There was one around The Masters, and then again after the final major of the season following a busy period."

DP World Tour official after Lee Westwood criticism?

There have been some interesting developments of late with a number of players staking their claims to European Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald.

Robert MacIntyre did himself a few favours with his second place finish at the Scottish Open before teeing it up at Royal Liverpool.

His Ryder Cup dream looks set to become a reality in September. Elsewhere, Donald will be keeping a close eye on German Yannik Paul, Poland's Adrian Meronk and Austria's Sepp Straka given their recent performances too.

Donald will also have to think about Victor Perez, Rasmus Hojgaard and Adrian Otaegui.

Over on the US side, vice captain Fred Couples has revealed the three players who can definitely pack their bags.