Lee Westwood: ‘The PGA Tour wants global dominance – I don’t want to play under that sort of regime’
It’s been a rollercoaster few months for Lee Westwood. The Ryder Cup legend has gone from being a shoo-in for European captaincy to being exiled from the competition altogether.
The Englishman, along with fellow LIV Golf defectors Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia, resigned from the DP World Tour on Wednesday, a move which has ended their association with the biennial competition.
The trio have contributed a combined 68.5 points from 28 appearances for Team Europe, and there has been an air of uncertainty about whether or not captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson would be able to pick LIV players when the competition heads to Rome in September, but Westwood isn’t hopeful.
“Could you imagine them allowing Luke to involve one of us, no matter how well one of us might be playing?” Westwood told the Telegraph.
“There will be so much experience lost now, all because the [DP World] Tour has gone into bed with the PGA Tour. That’s not the way it was. And not the way I think it should be.
“It’s time for me to move on.”
Of course, many will argue that Westwood has made his bed by joining LIV and should now lie in it. But he continues to argue his case.
“The way I view it is, as a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years,” he said.
“Tell me, what is the difference? Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis – a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play?
“I’ve been a dual member of the European Tour and PGA Tour, but always said I was a European Tour member first and foremost and that I had fears about the US circuit basically being bullies and doing everything it could to secure global dominance.
“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour and even though Keith [Pelley] says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour. The top 10 players on the Tour, not already exempt this year, have a pathway to the PGA Tour – that’s giving our talent away. That was never the tour’s policy before this ‘strategic alliance’.
“Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime. I always played on the Asian Tour, and got releases no problem. But then they said I shouldn’t play in the Indonesian Open at the end of last year. Come on. No thanks, I don’t want to play that game.
“It should be obvious why I’ve resigned.”
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
