LIV Golfer Lee Westwood ACCUSES DP World Tour of ‘manipulation’ and biased treatment towards Jon Rahm regarding Ryder Cup

Lee Westwood resigned from his DP World Tour membership after being fined for joining the LIV Golf league in 2022.

LIV Golfer Lee Westwood ACCUSES DP World Tour of ‘manipulation’ and biased treatment towards Jon Rahm regarding Ryder Cup

Lee Westwood and Jon Rahm (Image via Bunkered/Imago)

LIV Golf star Lee Westwood took a major swipe at the DP World Tour. The 51-year-old accused his former tour of manipulation and biased treatment towards Jon Rahm while speaking regarding the participation in the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup is a biennial tournament that takes place between USA and European golfers. The last edition saw the Europeans triumph on home soil and regain the Ryder Cup following a huge loss in the 2021 event.

Westwood, who had represented Team Europe on 11 occasions, had to sit out of this one as he was banned from the event. He along with Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia were all handed bans from this tournament due to them joining LIV Golf.

The Englishmen lost his appeal against the sanctions placed against him and resigned from his membership. With him not being on the DP World Tour, he cannot participate in this event. While, he can appeal this sanctions again, the date for his hearing will likely be after the 2025 Ryder Cup.

In an interview with The i Paper, the former World No.1 pointed out the treatment of the DP World Tour towards Jon Rahm. The 2-time major champion also plays on the LIV Golf circuit now, but is eligible for the Ryder Cup this year.

The tour have not treated everyone the same way. They have not treated Rahm and Hatton the same way they treated me, Poults and Stenson and the like. They have manipulated the situation. They haven’t paid their fines either, but their appeal dates have been pushed back until after the Ryder Cup.

Lee Westwood said as per The i Paper

A golfer requires to play in at least 4 events to retain their DP World Tour membership. Rahm did just that in 2024 and retained his status as a DP World Tour golfer.

Lee Westwood thinks Donald Trump cannot influence ongoing PGA Tour-PIF merger

As Lee Westwood and his league mates got ready to take on the LIV Golf Miami event at the Trump Doral Course, the golfer made a bold statement regarding Donald Trump. He thinks that the US President cannot influence the ongoing merger talks between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Lee Westwood and Donald Trump
Lee Westwood and Donald Trump (Image via Golf Digest/Imago)

This year, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan along with player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott met Trump at the White House. During this meeting, the urged for his intervention in this ongoing deal. Since then there have been talks regarding this merger, however, the previous meeting did not go so well.

While speaking on his intervention in this deal, Westwood claimed that he cannot force the PGA Tour to do a deal with the PIF.

He’s a keen golfer but I don’t think he has that kind of influence. What can he do? He can’t force the PGA Tour to make a deal. I don’t think the PGA Tour want the deal. To do a deal both sides have to move on a few things but I don’t think they want that.

Lee Westwood told The i Paper

Trump recently made a joke regarding this deal. He hilariously claimed that the merger talks between this two bodies were more complicated than the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. However, he has expressed confidence in this deal going through soon.

The merger talks were first announced in June 2023. Along with PIF chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Jay Monahan announced the coming together of the tour and the PIF. The main goal of this deal is to reunite the game and have all golfers play under one umbrella tour.

Lee Westwood takes indirect swipe at PGA Tour ahead of LIV Golf Miami

Before the LIV Golf Miami event, the PIF-funded tour will feature “The Duels: Miami” a two-man scramble team event consisting of LIV Golfers and content creators. Ahead of this event, Lee Westwood took an indirect swipe at the PGA Tour.

Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood (Image via Sports Illustrated)

Some of the top content creators who took part in the Creators Classic before The Players Championship, will feature in this event. As per Golf Insider Tom Hobbs, the PGA Tour reached out to the creators and threatened them with future suspensions if they participated in unsanctioned events. The creators then pushed back and this sanctions were dropped.

Hobbs though would drop a huge message regarding the tour on X. In a long message, he claimed that it was a “terrible look” for the tour.

Westwood, would come across this post and hilariously warned the insider that he would be banned by the tour if he wrote something like, thus taking an indirect dig at the tour.

That’ll be you with a year ban for writing this article Tom!

Lee Westwood on X

The Duels: Miami is set to air on YouTube on April 5. With the LIV Golf Miami event taking place from April 4 to 6, the actual event will take place a few days before the tournament.