The DP World Tour has won a hugely significant legal battle against LIV Golf players and has secured the right to impose fines on defectors.
The Tour has now confirmed fines of $100,000 will be imposed on those who participated in conflicting events without release permission. They have 30 days to pay them.
This ruling came from the Sports Resolutions arbitration hearing that took place in front of a three-person panel chaired by Judge Phillip Sycamore CBE from February 6-10.
In summary, the panel found that DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley “acted entirely reasonably in refusing releases” and the relevant regulations are “lawful and enforceable”.
The sanctioned members “committed serious breaches of the Code of Behaviour of the DP World Tour Regulations by playing in (LIV Golf events) despite their release requests having been refused”.
This ruling could mean the likes of Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, who joined LIV Golf last summer, could give up their DP World Tour memberships to avoid future sanctions or suspensions.
Sixteen players from the DP World Tour played in the first event of Greg Norman’s tour held at Centurion Golf Club in June 2022.
The circuit formerly known as the European Tour initially announced fines and suspensions for LIV defectors last June, but Poulter, Justin Harding, and Adrian Otaegui still played at the Genesis Scottish Open due to appeals.
“We welcome today’s decision by Sport Resolutions which upholds our regulations and our ability to administer them,” Pelly said in an official statement.
“We are delighted that the panel recognised we have a responsibility to our full membership to do this and also determined that the process we followed was fair and proportionate.
“In deciding the level of these sanctions last June, we were simply administering the regulations which were created by our members and which each of them signed up to.
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“It is, of course, regrettable that resources, both financial and staffing, which could have been otherwise deployed across our organisation, have been impacted by this lengthy arbitration process.
“However, with the clarity provided by today’s decision, we look forward to continuing to focus on our 2023 global schedule, whilst also continuing to plan for 2024 with the valued support of our many partners and stakeholders.
“We will now carefully consider the details of today’s decision with our Board, our Tournament Committee, and our legal advisors and take the appropriate action in due course.”
The verdict could provide European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald with more clarity on who can and can’t be included in his team for September, depending on the players’ DP World Tour membership status.
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