European tour says anyone signing with LIV Golf need not apply to play both circuits

The European tour has delivered an ultimatum to players contemplating the new version of LIV Golf, saying anyone who joins will not be allowed to be European tour members.

“Players need to make a choice,” Guy Kinnings, CEO of the European tour, said in a statement Monday first reported by the BBC.

The DP World Tour, as it is commercially known, previously let LIV players to keep their European membership as long as they paid fines for playing LIV events that conflicted with the tour.

It extended an olive branch earlier this year to nine players, allowing them to play LIV events without sanctions provided they settled all previous fines and agreed to add European tour events to their 2026 schedules.

Kinnings delivered a far stronger message — us or them — as LIV is trying to emerge from bankruptcy stemming from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund cutting off the financial support. LIV has spent more than $5 billion since its launch in 2022.

LIV has the backing of up to $300 million from BC Partners as it leans into a 10-tournament season with a focus on team competition and players owning equity in LIV 2.0. Players have until Oct. 25 to decide whether to stick with LIV, which could determine whether the beleaguered circuit can move forward out of bankruptcy.

The European tour, however, is requiring anyone seeking to join to disclose where they intend to play in 2027. The tour said it would terminate membership if the disclosures prove false.

“As we have said for many years, we have rules and regulations which are there to protect our tour and which our members must all abide by,” Kinnings said. “Players who are not willing to comply with our rules and regulations should not be seeking to join our tour.”

Players must be European tour members to compete in the Ryder Cup next September, adding pressure to the likes of Tyrrell Hatton of England, Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland, Adrian Meronk of Poland and Thomas Detry of Belgium.

An attorney for Jon Rahm said last week in a bankruptcy hearing for LIV that the former No. 1 wanted to terminate his LIV contract. The question for Rahm, a two-time major champion, is how he works his way back to the PGA Tour.

Sergio Garcia also asked to end his LIV contract, and David Puig of Spain has indicated he is ready to take on a European tour schedule.

The European tour is negotiating a renewed alliance with the PGA Tour, which involves commercial opportunities and a path for the leading 10 players on the Race to Dubai to get PGA Tour cards.

Patrick Reed and Eugenio Chacarra, who both previously played for LIV Golf, are a lock to earn PGA Tour cards this year off the European tour points list. Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, another player who signed early with LIV, also has a chance at a tour card.

The plan of LIV 2.0 is to have such a streamlined schedule to allow players to compete elsewhere. But the PGA Tour bans LIV players for at least one year dating to their last LIV appearance, and now the European tour is demanding them to pick a tour.

Scott O’Neil, who took over as LIV CEO when Greg Norman left, has been preaching the phrase, “Complete, not compete,” as he sees the new version of his league — without Saudi funding to offer as much as nine-figure signing bonuses — to be complementary to other golf tours.

“We shouldn’t live in a world where one group of golfers is uniquely restricted from playing elsewhere,” O’Neil said in August when laying the groundwork for LIV Golf 2.0. “Our goal isn’t to replace or restrict any tour. Our mission is to bring something distinctive to the ecosystem that elevates it and makes the whole game better.”

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here