AUGUSTA, Ga. — It's becoming the losers' tour.
The DP World Tour last year fined and suspended players for playing in a LIV Golf event without proper releases from the Tour. The penalties were frozen by an arbitration body, whose panel heard arguments in February from the likes of Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. The Times of London reported Tuesday that the arbitrator ruled against the 13 LIV players and in favor of the Tour; an official announcement could come as early as Thursday, before the first round of the Masters begins.
PGA Tour superstar Rory McIlroy has been the chief denouncer of the renegade tour, which is the spawn of a Saudi Arabian government intent on sports-washing its oppressive regime with the faces of multiple major winners such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka, who are among the 18 LIV players who qualified for the first Masters since LIV began last year.
"If that is the outcome, then that certainly changes the dynamic of everything," McIlroy said.
He didn't gloat. Some of the LIV players remain good friends of his, and he would never revel in their misfortune, but his satisfied smirk told the tale of his feelings over the latest development. The PGA Tour reacted similarly to players joining LIV, an existential threat to the PGA Tour with with billions of Saudi dollars in its arsenal — dollars that deposit nine-figure bonuses into the accounts of players like 29-year-old Aussie star Cam Smith, the best stick they've hired so far.
The news Tuesday meant that LIV players with DP Tour memberships will likely resign them to avoid the fines of about $125,000. It means players hoping to scrounge World Golf Ranking points on DP Tour events — points that some players need in order to qualify for the four majors — no longer will be able to do so. It means LIV players hoping to play in the Ryder Cup in September in Rome will likely be excluded.
They still can earn world rankings points at the four majors. They also can earn points on the Asian Tour, but those events often carry less than two-thirds of the rankings points of a common PGA Tour event. LIV Tour events carry no rankings points.
The ruling seems unlikely to affect the antitrust lawsuit filed by LIV against the PGA Tour, though that litigation has seen its own setback recently when a federal judge ruled that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund must divulge information about its structure and finances — information the Saudis want to remain private.
That news dropped last month. The latest news made Tuesday at the Masters much more than a day to discuss rolling back souped-up golf balls, McIlroy's ongoing pursuit of the career Grand Slam, and the state of Tiger Woods' reconstructed left leg.
Did McIlroy agree with the latest ruling?
"If the arbitration panel thinks that's the right decision," he said, "then I have to go by what they say."
