Graeme McDowell wants "vote" to allow LIV Golf players on DP World Tour
Graeme McDowell is one of 18 LIV Golf players teeing it up at the BMW PGA Championship this week, which has been frowned upon by some of the loyalists in the field.
LIV Golf and European stalwart Graeme McDowell has called for a vote to be held on the subject of LIV Golf players competing on the DP World Tour.
After the first round at the BMW PGA Championship, McDowell regretted not suggesting a vote among the tour's 326 members at Tuesday's players' meeting. Despite an expectation of more fireworks, this meeting lasted no more than 20 minutes.
As the DP World Tour isn't constitutionally able to suspend players like the PGA Tour, those players who were eligible are allowed to play at Europe's flagship event this week. The likes of Patrick Reed, Abraham Ancer and Talor Gooch have all made the effort from America to compete.
These players certainly aren't in the good books of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Billy Horschel. All three players don't believe the LIV Golf players should be able to play in the Surrey event and obtain world ranking points which they can't get on the LIV Golf Tour.
Legal proceedings will come to a head in February regarding the fines given to players earlier in the season, but McDowell wants an alternative way to determine sanctions.
"I don’t care about anything a courtroom suggests. This to me is about DP World Tour members and whether they feel like I 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 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."
Some players were banned from the Genesis Scottish Open, the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship in the summer. They were also fined $100,000.
But Ian Poulter, Adrian Otaegui and Justin Harding had their suspensions stayed and played in Scotland. Despite many LIV Golf players' desire to play less golf for more money, this was an example of their intentions to subsidise the new gaps in their schedule.
At the first LIV event at Centurion at the start of June, McDowell faced a hard time reconciling his decision to play on the new tour associated with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
"You know, I think as golfers, if we tried to cure geopolitical situations in every country in the world that we play golf in, we wouldn't play a lot of golf. It's a really hard question to answer," McDowell said in June when asked about the human rights record of Saudi Arabia.
"You know, we're just here to focus on the golf and kind of what it does globally for the role models that these guys are and that we are, and yeah, that's a really hard question to get into."
