PGA Tour suspends players competing in first LIV Golf tournament originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Shortly after the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series teed off, the PGA Tour announced that all 17 members participating in the event have been suspended.
In a memo to PGA Tour members, commissioner Jay Monahan said players competing in LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed rival league, did not receive conflicting event and media rights release and are being notified that they no longer will be eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play and other sanctioned tours.
Suspended players listed on the letter, 10 of whom had previously resigned their PGA Tour membership, include LIV Golf headliners Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, as well as Sergio Garcia, Talor Gooch, Branden Grace, Matt Jones, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, Andy Ogletree, Louis Oosthuizen, Turk Pettit, Ian Poulter, Charl Schwartzel, Hudson Swafford, Peter Uihlein and Lee Westwood.
Players who participate in future LIV Golf events will face the same sanctions.
“We have followed the Tournament Regulations from start to finish in responding to those players who have decided to turn their backs on the PGA Tour by willfully violating a regulation,” Monahan wrote.
The rival league began play on Thursday with the LIV Golf Invitational at the Centurion Club outside of London, conflicting directly with the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open being held in Toronto.
LIV Golf issued a statement in response to the disciplinary action taken by the PGA Tour.
“Today’s announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive and it deepens the divide between the Tour and its members,” LIV Golf said. “It’s troubling that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking golfers from playing. This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning as we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London, and beyond.”
