The DP World Tour issued fines and suspensions to players who had made the move to the LIV Golf setup earlier this year, but a number of the breakaway league’s players are returning this week
Cam Smith is one of seven LIV Golf players returning to the DP World Tour this week across the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and the Joburg Open.
Smith himself will compete in his home country’s PGA Championship alongside fellow LIV stars Marc Leishmann, Joaquin Niemann and Mito Peirera, whilst three South Africans in Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmester and Branden Grace head back to their native land for Joburg Open.
The entry of a number of the breakaway league’s players into DP World Tour events may have come to a shock to many, after the Wentworth-based circuit inflicted sanctions on those who chose to join LIV.
After the PGA Tour suspended any player who chose to participate in a LIV Golf event in June of last year, those who decided to switch to Saudi Arabia have undoubtedly felt the consequences. After a protracted legal battle, the DP World Tour eventually followed suit ten months later, suspending and fining players who defected.
Smith and company are able to use a few workarounds this week to get back into Tour action despite the sanctioning. Smith is eligible to compete in the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, which is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour Australasia. Smith has won the tournament before.
After winning in 2017 and 2018, the former Champion Golfer of the Year triumphed in the competition for a third time last November by a margin of three shots. Leishmann, another Australian, has been invited to the tournament, and Niemann and Peirera, teammates on Torque GC, have qualified through the ‘National Spots’ category.
Along with the three other players who have LIV connections, Jediah Morgan, a former champion who was recently demoted, is also a participant. A tournament invitation has also been extended to LIV reserve Wade Ormsby, and Laurie Canter, a former Majesticks GC star, received a spot thanks to his performance in the Race to Dubai standings on the DP World Tour.
A comparable circumstance exists in South Africa as well, where the Sunshine Tour and the Johannesburg Open are co-sanctioned events. Because of the “National Spots” category, Schwartzel, Grace, and Burmester will all be returning to their native countries.
Grace is competing in her second DP World Tour event in three weeks after accepting a tournament invitation to compete in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, another home event in her native country. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour are currently negotiating a framework agreement that could make it even easier for LIV members to join the Wentworth-based circuit.
Leave a Reply