Professional golf’s internal fight for survival ratcheted up a few notches during the past week amid the backdrop of the LIV Golf Invitational Series’ American debut.
When seven PGA Tour members teed off Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon, commissioner Jay Monahan issued immediate and indefinite suspensions. Major champions Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed joined past tour winners Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez and Matthew Wolff on the suspension list. They competed on a rival tour without having obtained a release, Monahan said, citing PGA Tour regulations.
Reed, following the actions taken by fellow Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Sergio García before LIV Golf’s first event, resigned his PGA Tour membership.
Two weeks earlier, Monahan had suspended 17 players, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, for their participation in LIV Golf’s inaugural event in England.
“I’ve not played Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, but I can’t imagine there’s a whole lot of difference.”
American Talor Gooch, who made his LIV Golf debut last week
Among the week’s other developments:
• Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour’s commissioner, fired back in a statement after 16 players sanctioned by his tour because of their LIV Golf involvement threatened legal action for having been banned from this week’s Genesis Scottish Open. In response to a letter by the defectors to the DP World Tour obtained by London’s The Daily Telegraph, Pelley said their allegations contained “so many inaccuracies that it cannot remain unchallenged.” He said the disciplined players knew that a move to LIV Golf would run them afoul of the DP World Tour’s regulations. Late Sunday, the Telegraph cited sources in reporting that "some of the mutineers will now go to court" as soon as today to seek an emergency order to gain spots in the Scottish Open. The tournament is the first event to be co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World tours.
• LIV Golf said it is progressing ahead of schedule and intends to expand in 2023 to 14 tournaments, up from eight in its inaugural season, and establish permanent four-man teams. The tour will require its players to compete in all events. The tour also will set team captains for each of the 12 teams and allow them to recruit players and perhaps make trades in what will become the LIV Golf League.
• England’s Paul Casey signed with LIV Golf and will make his debut on the rival tour later this month at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey. Casey, 44, has won three times on the PGA Tour and 15 times on the DP World Tour and was No. 26 in the Official World Golf Ranking last week. He compiled a 4-7-5 record in five appearances for Europe in the Ryder Cup, including winning teams in 2004, 2006 and 2018.
• Zach Johnson, the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, warned players who resign their PGA Tour memberships in favor of joining LIV Golf and still aspire to be part of the biennial matches against Europe. Speaking to media before the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, Johnson said: “In order to play on the Ryder Cup team, whether you're top six (qualifier) or a (captain’s) pick, you must garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America. In order to garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America, you have to be a member of the PGA of America. The way that we're members of the PGA of America is through the PGA Tour. I’ll let you connect the dots from there.”
• The PGA Tour and DP World Tour strengthened their alliance beyond previously established co-sanctioned tournaments such as this week’s Barbasol Championship in the U.S. and Scottish Open in the U.K. that will allow access to members of both tours. The PGA Tour also increased its financial stake in European Tour Productions, from 15 percent to 40 percent, according to the announcement, and will offer membership to the top finishers on the season-ending DP World Tour points list.
Staff and Wire Reports