Like rats deserting a sinking ship, many LIV golfers are now looking for somewhere else to play even as they prepare to compete in America this week.
And it seems Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell plan to return to the DP World Tour with their tails between their legs. They have all paid their outstanding fines, which represents something of a U-turn. Two years ago Westwood said: "I’m not paying them because I disagree with the way they’ve been handed out."
(Image Credit: LIV Golf)
This is what he says now: "What it does is gives us options having them paid. When the current financial backers of the tour are talking about pulling out and we’re being indemnified, it just makes sense to get them paid straight away before they do pull out. That’s really why we had them paid when we did.
"But I still don’t agree with the fines because we are being completely treated differently to the people playing on this tour. I think the fines were excessive when you consider what other people did and how much they got fined historically."
Poulter said: "The fines were always going to be paid at some point, and that was down to myself and Lee to choose when that time was right. The European Tour and LIV Golf and the acceptance of it all, it’s all in a very different position today than what it was four years ago when we were being fined the way we were.
"There are no fines in place today for guys that are playing on LIV Golf, and that’s a massive change. When you look certainly how Jon [Rahm] and Tyrrell [Hatton] were treated back in the day, to still be able to play European Tour golf and play in Ryder Cups."
(Image Credit: LIV Golf)
McDowell has an interesting take.
He told the BBC that he settled his fines with the DP World Tour in 2023 and has had "productive" talks with the circuit about a return in 2027. McDowell said he plans to meet with the DP World Tour again in November to hopefully finalise his path back.
Interesting timing that. By then he will, of course know if he has any future with LIV, whose CEO Scott O'Neil is still trying to find sponsorship to keep the breakaway tour going in 2027. In other words, McDowell wants his cake and be able to eat it - if there is no LIV then he will return.
"We’ve had good conversations this year," McDowell told the BBC. "If LIV gets something done, great. If they don’t, then maybe I’m just a European Tour player - and we go from there. I’m lucky to have that option."
Maybe "I’m just a European Tour player"? Who does he think he is? Many golfers would give their right arms for such status. Oh, and by the way Graeme, it’s the DP World Tour - and has been for years.
McDowell is 46 years old and is the 1,014th-ranked player in the world, hasn’t won anywhere since the 2020 Saudi International and finished tied 53rd at LIV UK’s event - 38 shots behind winner Lucas Herbert.
Westwood and Poulter have both turned 50 and have nothing to offer the DP World Tour. They may well have paid their fines but would they be competitive? I hardly think so.
I believe that the veterans who went off to line their pockets should have to prove they merit a return to the tour and should not be allowed to feed off what they did in their prime. Make them spend a season on the HotelPlanner Tour and if they come through that then fair enough. Why should these golfers be allowed to deny places in tournaments to players who have earned it?
Now compare all of that with what Thomas Pieters has had to say.
He does not have any remaining status on the DP World Tour and would need to enter the circuit’s Q-School this winter for a place to play in Europe if LIV does not survive.
Pieters says: "I don’t have an ego. I’ll do whatever I have to do to play. I’m going to try and get invites, but I don’t want to get a freebie. I want to earn my way back because I don’t want anybody on the DP World Tour to say, ‘Oh, he’s getting his status back.’ I want to do it the proper way if I go back. There’s still golf in me. I still think I can compete with the best, but I’ve got to prove a lot of things before I can do that, before I get back into majors.
"If LIV doesn’t exist, I have to prove my way back on the tour. I have to prove that I can win and then go on to majors. It’s kind of the consequences, right? We all came here for a reason, and if it doesn’t exist anymore, then it’s life."
Pieters says he is willing to play on the HotelPlanner Tour. "You know what? That pressure, maybe it’s going to suit me well," he says
The future lies with the likes of Tom McKibbin and David Puig, who have learned the hard way that all that glistens is not gold.
The PGA Tour will also face a serious dilemma when it comes to the question of whether they should welcome back the likes of Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch, Joaquin Niemann and Lucas Herbert. There is no way they can be given a free pass and that is going to mean paying some pretty hefty fines.
As recent major winners, Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau could be offered the same pathway back to the PGA Tour that saw Brooks Koepka return earlier this year. Whether they are prepared to dig deep, like Koepka did, remains to be seen. It is difficult to imagine that Rahm would want to spend his time on the DP World Tour.
This week the LIV circus is at Trump National Bedminster, where they will all be anxious to hear how O’Neil’s negotiations are progressing amid reports that he is close to securing a $250m sponsorship deal.
