Report: Ryder Cup legends face £1m (!) fines for playing in LIV Golf events

DP World Tour members who played in LIV Golf events without permission face the prospect of huge, retrospective fines.

27 Apr 2023

Report: Ryder Cup legends face £1m (!) fines for playing in LIV Golf events

The ageing European Ryder Cup legends who bolted to the LIV Golf League for dizzying sums of money face the prospect of being fined up to £1m, according to a report.

Per Riath Al-Samarrai for Mail Sport, the DP World Tour are allegedly thinking of imposing retrospective punishments after it was confirmed on the eve of the 87th Masters the European-based circuit prevailed in their arbitration against the LIV players.

A panel of three - including by a former high court judge - upheld the tour's conflicting tournament release regulation and its ability to sanction members who breached it.

The report, which you can read by clicking here, states that 'serious thought' is being given to penalising every single appearance by DP World Tour members in the LIV series.

In 2022, LIV Golf played seven $25m prize purse events along with a $50m team championship. They are playing their fifth event of 2023 in Singapore this week.

According to the report: "A sliding scale from £100,000 and down could be implemented in assessing the extent of the fines."

The report states:

"It is believed that the biggest fines would apply to the tournaments that conflict most with the DP World Tour's markets, so, for instance, the July LIV event at Valderrama in Spain would be more heavily weighted than the vast majority, which have been predominantly played in the United States. It is notable on that front that LIV will this week stage their fifth event of the current season in Singapore, where the DP World Tour visited in February."

GolfMagic has previously written about everything you need to know about the DP World Tour v LIV Golf hearing.

In light of the decision, the DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has spoken a bit more freely about the future of the Old World circuit.

He highlighted Rory McIlroy's playing schedule as he hit back at his critics, insisted he doesn't regret welcoming the Saudis into the game and confirmed Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Sergio Garcia will never be Ryder Cup captains or vice captains.

Before LIV Golf officially launched, Greg Norman confirmed the league's financiers would pay the legal bills for any player involved in litigation.

At the time of writing, we have no news on any appeal from the 'rebels'. Patrick Reed - who has apparently crashed his Porsche and sold it for a fraction of the price - stated he didn't believe the decision was correct.

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