European tour wins case with LIV Golf after panel ruling

An appeal panel found that a number of players, including Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, committed “serious breaches” of the European tour’s code of behavior by playing in LIV Golf events last year.

Representative Image: The ruling allows the European tour to impose fines on players who competed, and will compete, in the rival league without a conflicting events release. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The European tour was within its rights to sanction members who competed on the Saudi-funded LIV Golf without permission, an independent tribunal ruled on Thursday.

An appeal panel at Sports Resolutions found that a number of players, including Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, committed “serious breaches” of the European tour’s code of behavior by playing in LIV Golf events last year despite requests to be released having been refused.

The ruling allows the European tour to impose fines of 100,000 pounds ($125,000) on players who competed, and will compete, in the rival league without a conflicting events release.

Keith Pelley, the European tour chief executive, welcomed the tribunal’s decision.

“We are delighted that the panel recognized we have a responsibility to our full membership to do this and also determined that the process we followed was fair and proportionate,” Pelley said.

“In deciding the level of these sanctions last June, we were simply administering the regulations which were created by our members and which each of them signed up to.”

It was the first court decision since LIV Golf began in June, and will likely mean Westwood, Poulter, Sergio Garcia and others are likely to resign their European tour membership.