BMW PGA Championship: Players should be allowed to vote on whether to allow LIV rebels to participate in the DP World Tour, according to Graeme McDowell.
Rory McIlroy said he found the scenario “hard to stomach,” and McDowell is one of 15 players competing at the BMW PGA Championship who also participated in the Saudi-sponsored breakaway circuit in Boston last week.
Billy Horschel, the defending winner, has called players like Abraham Ancer and Talor Gooch “hypocrites” for playing in their first tournaments at Wentworth after earlier expressing no interest in the competition.
After their suspensions for participating in the first LIV Golf event were temporarily overturned on appeal, McDowell, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, and Lee Westwood are now eligible. The full hearing is scheduled for February.
“I don’t care about anything a courtroom suggests, this to me is about DP World Tour members and whether they feel like me and the other big names that are playing LIV Golf can bring any value to this Tour moving forward,” McDowell said.
“If they think that’s something they don’t want, great; let’s get to that decision and move on because the lack of clarity is just not good for anybody. “I wish I’d have asked the question at the (players) meeting the other night. What is the process? Is there a way to expedite it? Does it have to happen in a court of law?
“Let’s send 326 emails out (the Tour has 326 members) and maybe two videos; one from the LIV players saying we’d love to support this tour eight, 10, 12 times a year and then the other side of it is Keith Pelley’s statement this week.”
“I mean what am I here for this week? I’m here for competitive golf and the world rankings,” he added. “I don’t typically play for charity much but if it meant I could come and play golf in Europe and give my prize money to charity every week and that made everyone happy, then let’s go.
“It’s a bigger-picture conversation. I just wish there was an easy solution. I hate it’s divided people, pulled friendships apart, hurt a Tour I care deeply about which is this one.”
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