DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings and Jon Rahm (Warren Little/Getty Images)
After five years of serving as a soft alternative option for LIV golfers, the DP World Tour is taking a hard-line stance against the bankrupt league.
Much like its strategic partner, the PGA Tour — which drew an immediate hard line banning anyone who played for the rival league — the DP World Tour says that it will no longer permit its members to be part of the new version of LIV that is expected to emerge after bankruptcy proceedings.
The hard-line change was first reported on Monday by BBC Sport and The Telegraph.
“Players need to make a choice,” said DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings in a statement. “As we have said for many years, we have rules and regulations which are there to protect our tour and which our members must all abide by. Players who are not willing to comply with our rules and regulations should not be seeking to join our tour.”
This could prove to be a huge hurdle for LIV Golf as it attempts to reinvent itself after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund pulled its financial banking after the 2026 season. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil has secured an agreement with BC Partners to invest $300 million into a scaled down, 10-tournament version of the league in 2027, offering equity in the league and teams to players who join.
The DP World Tour has previously allowed its members to play on LIV, subject to suspensions and fines for conflicting events. In 2026, it offered a deal to nine LIV golfers, including Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, that would not require releases and would waive fines in exchange for all previous sanctions being settled and adding additional DPWT events to their 2026 schedules.
That provision is now off the table. Players when seeking 2027 membership for the DP World Tour will be asked to disclose by Nov. 1 which tours they plan to compete on in 2027. The European circuit said it will expel any player who goes back on their word, making them ineligible for next year’s Ryder Cup.
The DP World Tour is leaning into its proposed future collaboration with the PGA Tour that is expected to offer more co-sanctioning of events and a stronger fall international schedule.
The choice for a player like Tyrrell Hatton — who has played in both leagues since joining LIV in 2023 and maintained eligibility to be part of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black — is to sign up for a new LIV 2.0 or committ fully to the DP World Tour. LIV 2.0 has yet to be fully vetted and will have only 10 events with purses expected to range from $5 million to $9 million. The DPWT offers a deeper, full-season schedule, access to the Ryder Cup for European members and a pathway to the PGA Tour. It also has predominantly smaller purses with just eight events this year that were more than $4 million.
LIV’s O’Neil has said previously that “we shouldn’t live in a world where one group of golfers is uniquely restricted from playing elsewhere.” He has attempted to sell a plan that would give LIV players this smaller, streamlined schedule with the idea that they could also play tours around the world.
LIV players have never been permitted to play PGA Tour events since the league’s inception in 2022. And now this new restriction will take away the possibility of the world’s second-largest tour.
Would Joaquin Niemann take DPWT up on non-affiliated deal and ditch LIV? (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The DP World Tour is taking a similarly hard line with its non-members. As the Daily Drive reported Monday, an offer is on the table to players like Joaquin Niemann to get sponsor invites via the DP World Tour beyond the maximum allowed, providing that are no longer affiliate with LIV Golf.
The offer is to non members of the DP World Tour — players such as Niemann, Lucas Herbert, Jose Ballester, Caleb Surratt, Dean Burmester, Carlos Ortis and Abraham Ancer.
Today’s Golfer reported last week that several players were set to exit LIV via the DPWT plan. The offer has been in play for more than a month, going back to early September when the DP World Tour made it clear that conditional releases for LIV golfers would not be available in 2027.
At the time, the DPWT said: “Given the high volume of inbound interest and enquiries we have received in recent weeks, we are exploring the terms on which we are willing to accommodate players provided they are free from third party contractual restrictions and are willing to abide by our membership regulations. Our Tournament Committee has approved the process we intend to follow and we expect further enquiries in the days ahead.”