LIV Golf pro: Players are cheating on DP World Tour

LIV Golf League player Thomas Pieters has claimed players on the DP World Tour are cheating. 

Why? 

Because of their pace of play. 

The Belgian made the claim on X on 8 July after he asked fellow Tour pro Pablo Larrazabal why slow play is 'accepted' on the European-based circuit. 

Larrazabal was doing a Q&A and then then can of worms truly opened. 

Earlier in the year LIV critic Mike Lorenzo-Vera labelled the time some groups were taking in certain events to complete their rounds as a 'f---ing joke'. 

Hilariously, the Frenchman actually complained about the problem in real time, whipping out his phone during the ISPS Handa World Championship to blast the officials for not punishing the group in front after they took five hours and 40 minutes to complete 18 holes. 

Lorenzo-Vera subsequently labelled the battle against slow play as 'fake' because those in charge of combatting the problem on the tournament committee are guilty of playing too slowly as well. 

At this time, English pro Eddie Pepperell chimed in by claiming that some players just didn't care about speeding up and gladly accept their fines. 

He said one player had racked up more than £100,000 in fines throughout 2023. 

As for Pieters, he wrote on X that since joining LIV he has not felt like slow play is an issue on the breakaway tour. 

That's primarily down to the fact that there are only 54 players in the field. 

He also believes - much like Brooks Koepka - that the only solution is to start stroking players. 

"I would love for that to happen more often," he wrote. "It hurts more than a fine."

'We do take slow play seriously' 

David Howell, who is the chairman of the tournament committee on the DP World Tour, has previously insisted that slow play is taken seriously. 

In one thread on X, he wrote: "I won't bore you with the details, but on top and as well as the hefty fines already mentioned by @PepperellEddie [but] if you are ignorant enough to ignore all the slow play rules you can rack up a two-shot penalty this year on the DP World Tour.

"We do take slow play seriously."

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