Westwood worried for DP World Tour after LIV collapse

Published28 minutes ago

Lee Westwood is worried about the future of the Europe-based DP World Tour following the collapse of LIV Golf.

The 53-year-old Englishman was among the high-profile players lured to LIV when the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway tour began in 2022.

LIV this week confirmed its intention to wind down operations after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) withdrew its financial support and potential new investors pulled out of a deal to back LIV continuing in a new form.

LIV's collapse is a boost for the USA's PGA Tour and Westwood's former Ryder Cup team-mate Rory McIlroy agrees with DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings' assertion that LIV aimed to "destroy" their European rivals.

However, Westwood questions how strong a position the DP World Tour now finds itself in.

The former world number one expects the PGA Tour boss to "play hardball" with its European counterparts and suggested that Europe's top players may be better off playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, the US feeder circuit to the PGA Tour.

"LIV going out of business, some people will be disappointed and it might not be people that you immediately think of," Westwood told BBC Sport.

"The European tour, I'm not sure it's such a big win for them."

Although LIV players were banned from the PGA Tour, they could still play in some DP World Tour events, which Westwood felt gave them some "leverage" but "now LIV's out [of] the way, they've lost that".

However, in July the American and European tours extended their strategic alliance, which includes Annual Investment Payments (AIPs). Last year that figure was £59m.

The PGA Tour also gives tour cards to the top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour who are not already members, but Westwood believes "there are a lot of questions still to be answered" regarding the new terms of their alliance.

"If [the DP World Tour] want to continue having the PGA Tour bankrolling them, there are going to be some big asks from the PGA Tour," Westwood added.

"If I was [chief executive] Brian Rolapp running the PGA Tour, I would be playing hardball and making a lot of demands of the European tour if they expected me to finance it going forward."

Westwood did not commit to LIV 2.0, as it was known, and is currently "unemployed" as he considers his future but may have to serve a suspension before returning to either the PGA or DP World Tours.

The PGA Tour describes the Korn Ferry Tour as its "premier pathway", with 20 cards on offer, and announced a new competitive structure in June with a Championship Series and a lower-tier Challenger Series.

The Championship Series will feature a "limited series" of events co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, which has so far announced the prize fund for just one event in 2027 – the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.

"The PGA Tour put this 'plan for the future' in place and the DP World Tour is not mentioned a whole lot in that," said Westwood.

"[Rolapp has] already said that the Korn Ferry Tour is going to be the main route into the PGA Tour, which makes me think 'what's going to happen to the DP World Tour?'

"I don't think the DP World Tour has announced any prize funds for next year, which is slightly worrying, and what will prize funds look like from 2028 onwards? There are a lot of questions still to be answered in that strategic alliance partnership."

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