Billy Horschel says LIV Golf pros are hypocrites and shouldn't be at Wentworth

BMW PGA Championship title-holder Billy Horschel accused some LIV Golf players of hypocrisy as they prepare to tee it up at the DP World Tour's flagship event.

Speaking to the media at Wentworth, Horschel doesn't believe that they should be playing at the Rolex Series event this week, especially as some players claimed they wanted to play less by joining LIV.

Horschel, a member of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, admitted he and his family weighed up the option of leaving the PGA Tour, but the "cons" on the LIV side were too many.

At the Genesis Scottish Open, the 35-year-old was very outspoken against the LIV Golf Tour and he believes some players were led astray by their agents and false promises from LIV.

There are 18 players from the Saudi-backed series teeing it up in Surrey this week. Rory McIlroy said that he would find it hard to stomach seeing so many rebels at a DP World Tour event.

"There is a mixed feeling here. There are some guys that hate it, don't think that the LIV guys should be here and there are some guys that are in the middle. There are some guys who understand and feel that these guys have built the DP World Tour and have been part of Ryder Cups," Horschel said.

"My stance on this is that when those guys were trying to figure out if they were going to the LIV Tour or stay with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour, they had to factor in that they knew world ranking points wouldn't come right away or not come at all.

"They had to factor in that they knew they were going to be suspended from the PGA Tour and possibly the DP World Tour, that they may not be in majors. By factoring that in, they factored in what the financial reward needed to be for them to leave.

"I don't fault them for making that decision, but you made the decision that is going to weaken both tours and that's a tough way to go about it. Those guys aren't going to play enough going forwards to help the PGA Tour and especially, the DP World Tour.

"I don't think those guys should be here. I don't think the American guys who haven't supported the PGA Tour should be here. The Abraham Ancers, the Talor Goochs, the Jason Kokraks.

"You've never played this tournament, you've never supported the DP World Tour. Why are you here? You're here for one reason only and that's to try and gain world ranking points because you don't have that.

"It's pretty hypocritical to come over here and play outside LIV when your big thing was to spend more time with family and want to play less golf."

Former World No.1 Jon Rahm shared the sentiment that those who have never played in the BMW PGA Championship or on the DP World Tour, largely American players, shouldn't be allowed to play this week.

The DP World Tour can't constitutionally suspend players and if they did, they would be weakening their fields. The PGA Tour has suspended players for joining LIV, but with their financial power and consistently strong fields, they can afford to.

Horschel admitted that the PGA Tour is "stronger" than the DP World Tour. This emphasises the importance of the strategic alliance which will allow DP World Tour players a pathway on to the American circuit in 2023.

Much like what Luke Donald said before him, Horschel hasn't seen any disagreements with LIV Players at DP World Tour events and he is happy to chat with the likes of Westwood, Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

However, the seven-time PGA Tour winner spoke of one situation at the BMW International Open in Germany this season where Sergio Garcia had some choice words in the dressing room.

"Obviously Sergio had a kickoff in the locker room and he said certain things in that locker room that actually didn't make it out into the public. Obviously, some did but he said some other things," Horschel added.

"I'm not going to say what he said because I wasn't in there, so it was secondhand information that I heard. But some of those players in there told me, you know, I was pretty shocked at what Sergio said in that locker room.

"But from what I've seen, the guys like me, I'm going to talk to Bernd Wiesberger; I'm going to talk to Ian Poulter, and I'm going to talk to Lee Westwood; and I'm going to talk to G-Mac.

"Like I'm not going to avoid those guys. I'm happy those guys made a decision. They are making a lot of money right now. I'm happy, if that's what they want to do in their life and on the golf and with their golf, I'm fine with that."