Fiery LIV Golf rebels Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood were embroiled in their latest social media spat after Eddie Pepperell was slammed for ironically quizzing the duo.
Golf's fierce civil war is showing no signs of slowing and DP World Tour player Pepperell has been among the most vocal critics of the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway series that has thrown the sport into chaos.
Ryder Cup veterans Poulter and Westwood were two of the most high-profile early defectors to the mega-money invitational tour alongside Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. Star names Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau have since joined to feature in the 54-hole, no-cut 48 player events as CEO Greg Norman aims to attract interest with a star-studded field.
Pepperell is vehemently against Norman's series and has said European stars who have defected for huge financial gain are inadvertently damaging the tour that once gave them the platform to thrive.
And the former British Masters winner, who has a satirical 'LIV golfer in the making' Twitter biography, was involved in a feisty, lengthy exchange with Poulter and Westwood.
The English duo have been provided an aggressive defence over their LIV call on social media in recent months and both had choice words for Pepperell in the Twitter spat.
Poulter and Westwood were praising veteran golf writer Alistair Tait for a blog post discussing the strength of field at this week's Andalucia Masters at Valderrama compared to LIV's field in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tait's article explores the possibility of sponsors leaving the DP Tour for LIV due to its weak position as a feeder for the PGA Tour.
"Some would say why not jump to LIV considering the current state of affairs?" Tait speculated. "With the PGA Tour demanding its top players compete 20 times next year, that could curtail European Tour appearances by the best Europeans playing in the U.S.
"Throw in the ludicrous decision to grant PGA Tour cards to the 10 most promising players on the DP World Tour on an annual basis and getting decent fields is surely only going to get harder in future."
"Finger on the pulse," Westwood approved as Poulter added "Bang on as normal..." in response to Tait. Pepperell then chimed: "Why didn’t you play Valderrama this year Ian?" in reference to Poulter's decision to snub the famous Spanish venue. The 46-year-old instead had contractual obligations to play in LIV's invitational event in Jeddah this weekend.
Poulter soon bit back: "How many tweets do you have to clock up bashing players who play on LIV before DPWorldTour give you another invite. You must be close. Are you after the ambassadorial program as well ???"
Poulter's claim that Pepperell has become an unofficial ambassador for the DP World Tour due to his criticism of LIV was backed up by Westwood, who mocked Pepperell for his failure to qualify for the Andalucia Masters.
Things got more heated after Westwood's belittlement, when he joked that Pepperell had a hotline to DP World Tour chief Keith Pelley's 'bat phone' for an invite after he had admitted poor form last season had cost him a place in the tournament.
Westwood also dismissed any notion of an argument surrounding his involvement with the European Tour, now known as the DP World Tour. "Don’t start down the “support of the ET (European Tour)” road with me Ed," he insisted. "It’s a battle you can’t win."
Poulter and Westwood have both been competing in the same 'Majesticks GC' team in this weekend's $25m purse LIV event in Jeddah.
