The LIV Golf rebels on the DP World Tour have been ordered to pay a fine £100,000 within 30 days after losing their arbitration hearing on Thursday.
A host of players from the breakaway series appealed against the fine and a two-week suspension from the DP World Tour following their decision to play at the initial LIV event last year without seeking an official release.
Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Patrick Reed were among the players to bring the case, which was heard by a Sport Resolutions panel back in February.
In Thursday’s decision, released just hours before the start of the Masters, the appeal panel said that the players had “committed serious breaches of the code of behaviour of the DPWT regulations by playing in the LIV Golf Invitational”.
It dismissed all appeals against the decision taken by DPWT chief executive Keith Pelley and concluded that “each of the appellants is to pay a fine of £100,000 within 30 days of the notification of this decision”.
The three-person panel, who heard evidence from the likes of Poulter, Westwood and Reed during the week-long hearing, said that Pelley had “acted entirely reasonably in refusing releases”.
In response, Pelley said: “We welcome today’s decision by Sport Resolutions which upholds our regulations and our ability to administer them. We are delighted that the panel recognised we have a responsibility to our full membership to do this and also determined that the process we followed was fair and proportionate.
“We will now carefully consider the details of today’s decision with our board, our tournament committee and our legal advisors and take the appropriate action in due course.”
The LIV rebels could yet decide to appeal against the decision while another similar case is looming in the United States between the breakaway series players and the PGA Tour.
