GOLF

Euro Tour fines 26 LIV stars

Agence France-Presse · May 13, 2023, 12:20 AM

Photograph by REY BANCOD for the daily tribune @tribunephl_al MEMBERS of the Orchard team that topped the Division 1 Championship in the JGFP Interclub at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club are flanked by JGFP and Eagle Ridge officials. From left: JGFP president Oliver Gan, Eagle Ridge director Ramil Villanueva, players Kim Tae Soo, TJ Padilla and Kim Taewon, captain Rori Castro, player Zach Castro, JGFP vice president Rel Gomez and JGFP director Mariel Macasaet.

LONDON (AFP) — Twenty-six European Tour players who competed in the rebel LIV Series without permission were on Thursday handed fines of up to £100,000 ($125,000), officials said.

The minimum fine was £12,000 ($15,000) while bans of up to eight events were also handed out.

The sanctions come in the wake of an arbitration hearing which ruled that players had committed "serious breaches" of the DP World Tour (European Tour) code of behavior.

"In total, 26 players were today informed individually of the sanctions applicable to them based on the specific conflicting tournaments they each played in, as a DP World Tour member, without being granted a release," said a DP World Tour statement.

"These sanctions include fines and, where appropriate, tournament suspensions."

It added: "Where fines were issued to players they ranged from £12,500 to £100,000 for each individual breach of the conflicting tournament regulation."

In April, the Tour won a legal battle after 12 players appealed against punishments for taking part in the inaugural LIV event last year.

Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia resigned their membership of the DP World Tour, with all but Garcia having paid the £100,000 fine.

Europe will now be without three of its biggest Ryder Cup stars when the event gets underway in September.

Spain's Garcia holds the record of 28.5 points, while Westwood has competed in 11 Ryder Cups, a European record he shares with Nick Faldo.