Hearings in early February into the dispute between 13 LIV Golf players and the DP World Tour will not yield a result or decision for two to four months, according to a Daily Mail report. Enough to give headaches to Luke Donald, the captain of the European team at the next Ryder Cup in Rome.
LIV Golf, situation
Banned from the DP World Tour in the wake of their departure on the LIV Golf, the new circuit financed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, several players had taken legal action to have their ban on playing canceled in July last the Genesis Scottish Open, co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour.
An order was then issued for this ban to be suspended until the file could be carefully examined. From February 6 to 10, three judges from Sports Resolutions UK, the British equivalent of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) based in Lausanne (Switzerland), heard several lawyers from both parties in London (England).
It was behind closed doors and few elements have filtered, except that the lawyers of LIV Golf were not very convincing and that the defectors of the DP World Tour have, despite everything, good hope of being able to continue to play on the European circuit.
In addition to their paid services in the League led by Greg Norman where, at each stage, 48 players share 25 million (petro) dollars provided graciously by the Saudis. After the defections of the Spaniard Sergio Garcia, automatically qualified for the Ryder Cup, and the South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace, there are only 13 LIV players concerned by this complaint against the DP World Tour: Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Laurie Canter, Justin Harding, Sam Horsfield, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Shaun Norris, Wade Ormsby, Adrian Otaegui and Bernd Wiesberger.
Some, like Poulter or the Belgian Thomas Pieters, who just joined LIV Golf at the end of February, are more than ever aiming for a place on merit in the European Ryder Cup team in September in Rome. They can continue to play on the DP World Tour, until the decision of the London judges is known, and therefore score points in the rankings for the Ryder Cup.
They could therefore, theoretically, qualify directly, without going through the “picks” of Captain Luke Donald. So, more than ever, as the English say, “wait and see”…
