Ian Poulter and fellow LIV Golf rebels have lost their case against the DP World Tour in a ruling that could have huge implications for the 2023 Ryder Cup.
The case related back to LIV's inaugural event at the Centurion Club last June, where DP World Tour stars were denied releases to take part because it clashed with their own Scandinavian Mixed event. The players ignored the ruling and were fined £100,000 and suspended for two tournaments.
Initially three defectors, Poulter, Adrian Otaegui and Justin Harding all challenged the decision, with the number of appellants then growing to 16 - but Garcia, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Otaegui withdrew from the case.
Announcing its decision on Thursday, the panel concluded that the players had committed "serious breaches of the Code of Behaviour of the DPWT Regulations" by playing in LIV's London and Portland events. Their appeals have been dismissed and the players ordered to pay the £100,000 fines which were imposed within 30 days.
Earlier this week, the DP World Tour declined to respond to unconfirmed reports they had won their case. But following confirmation on Thursday morning, Chief Executive Keith 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.
“In deciding the level of these sanctions last June, we were simply administering the regulations which were created by our members and which each of them signed up to. It is, of course, regrettable that resources, both financial and staffing, which could have been otherwise deployed across our organisation, have been impacted by this lengthy arbitration process."
Pelley also welcomed the organisation being able to plan ahead with clarity: “However, with the clarity provided by today’s decision, we look forward to continuing to focus on our 2023 global schedule, whilst also continuing to plan for 2024 with the valued support of our many partners and stakeholder," he added. “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 ruling is a major blow to the defectors, with the DP World Tour now permitted to deny releases and enforce sanctions. Any member who plays in future LIV events is now liable to be fined and suspended.
And the ruling could also now scupper any lingering hopes the rebels had of appearing in Rome in September at the Ryder Cup.
Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson have been in limbo as to whether they are able to select defectors, a prospect that would potentially have been enhanced if they could appear on the DP World Tour.
