LIV Golf captains confirm first DP World Tour starts in more than three years

European Ryder Cup legends Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are set to make their returns to the DP World Tour (DPWT) later this year.

The pair were among the first wave of players to be recruited by the LIV Golf League when it launched in June 2022.

Both golfers played in the opening tournament at Centurion Club and were subsequently hit with £100,000 fines for teeing it up without obtaining releases. 

They took the DPWT to a sports arbitration panel over the issue, but handed in their memberships after a panel of former high court judges ruled in favour of the Wentworth-based organisation in July 2023. 

LIV Golf were prepared to pay the fines on their behalf, but neither player accepted the offer. The league subsequently stopped covering player fines last January.

Poulter, now 50, and Westwood, 51, have essentially been persona non grata on the DPWT ever since and have, at times, been highly critical of the organisation. 

They were both very upset with how the DPWT responded to their move to LIV Golf and the apparent double standards.  

Of particular annoyance to the pair was how Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were allowed to compete at the 2025 Ryder Cup. 

Both players were also hit with the same fines but lodged appeals. 

Westwood previously explained that he believed that process moved at a snail's pace to ensure they could make Luke Donald's team. 

"The tour have not treated everyone the same way. They have not treated Rahm and Hatton the same way they treated me, Poults and Stenson and the like.

"They have manipulated the situation. They haven't paid their fines either, but their appeal dates have been pushed back until after the Ryder Cup. 

"They have basically kicked the can down the road for those players. They keep fining them but they will be eligible for the team." - Lee Westwood

Yet both Poulter and Westwood made the eye-brow raising decision to settle their outstanding fines in March.

It is believed both players paid around £1.1m each to get their cards back.

And now we know where the Majestick captains will make their comeback.

The English pair have been confirmed for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October.

Westwood and Poulter have each received invitations to the $5m tournament, which is played across the iconic links courses at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

It will represent their first starts on the DPWT in more than three years.

Westwood told The Scotsman that the last time he played the tournament, in 2019, was one of the highlights of his career.

He produced a remarkable run that week, acing the 8th hole at Carnoustie and then making an albatross at the 9th en route to victory.

"It seems a very long time ago now, but it's still a wonderful memory," Westwood told the paper. "One of the highlights of my career. 

"I'm looking forward to being back at the Dunhill Links for the first time in a while, and it will be fun playing the hole again."

Westwood and Poulter are not the only big names in the field. 

Tommy Fleetwood, Cameron Smith and Bubba Watson will tee it up. As will the aforementioned Hatton. 

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre will attempt to defend his title. 

The news comes at a crucial time for LIV Golf. 

The breakaway tour is playing is bringing the curtain down on its 2026 campaign this week in Indianapolis. 

It remains to be seen whether LIV will have a future. 

Last week, Poulter admitted that LIV Golf may run out of time to get a deal over the line with their prospective new investor. 

Poulter told Jimmy Bullard's YouTube channel, Golf Life, that there is hard deadline of 1 September to complete the transaction.