It is fair to say that Lee Westwood has been around a few doglegs in his three decades as a professional, and the last thing he expects after resigning his membership of the DP World Tour – in the wake of the ever-escalating LIV controversy – is sympathy. Yet from a personal standpoint, there is inevitably a degree of sorrow.
“I was a kid when I played my first European event – the Madeira Islands Open in 1994 when I won about £3,000 for finishing tied 19th. I’ve had amazing times, including all those Ryder Cups,” the former world No 1 said.
“I wouldn’t change those years for the world and feel I made a contribution to the tour. I’m not great on stats but I must have played something like 600 events, won more than 20 titles, and three Order of Merits. So no, I never would have believed it had ended like this and there has to be a bit of sadness, of course.”
Many will vehemently contend that the 50-year-old has been the architect of his own abdication as an undoubted member of European golf royalty, but the Worksop veteran is adamant the consequences were, at the very least, “vague” when he signed a deal to join LIV Golf that was reportedly worth more than £20 million.
“People say I knew exactly what would happen, but nobody told us the extent of the punishments,” he said. “And they continue to do that. The way I view it is that, as a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years. Tell me, what is the difference? Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis – a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play?
“I’ve been a dual member of the European Tour and PGA Tour, but always said I was a European Tour member first and foremost and that I had fears about the US circuit basically being bullies and doing everything it could to secure global dominance. Check my old quotes, it’s all there.
“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour and even though Keith [Pelley, the chief executive] says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour. The top 10 players on the tour, not already exempt this year, have a pathway to the PGA Tour – that’s giving our talent away. That was never the tour’s policy before this ‘strategic alliance’.
“Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime. Like, I always played on the Asian Tour, and got releases no problem. But then they said I shouldn’t play in the Indonesian Open at the end of last year. Come on. No thanks, I don’t want to play that game. Anyway, I’ve said all this before. It should be obvious why I’ve resigned.”
‘The Ryder Cup will lose so much experience’
Indeed, since the LIV controversy blew up last year, Westwood has been frank about what he views as the DP World Tour’s acquiescence to be junior partner in its relationship with the Americans. Westwood has argued with former Tour colleagues on Twitter – with Eddie Pepperell and most recently with David Horsey, another Englishman – about wanting his “cake and eating it”, but he now accepts that his tour odyssey is over. Well, almost.
“There are new, exciting chapters to be had with LIV and I can play on the Asian Tour with its International Series and, I hope, the [European] Senior Tour,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why I should be ineligible to play in the Senior Open in Royal Porthcawl in July.
“As for looking into the future, I suppose there might be compromise one day and I can be eligible again then. I won the Race to Dubai less than three years ago and that gave me a decade of exemptions.
“At my age, sure it was maybe easier to choose to resign than others who might be doing it – and that’s up to them to tell you, not me – but this wasn’t a straightforward decision and not one I have taken lightly at all.
“I mulled it over and just didn’t like the thought of the tour continuously hitting us with more fines and bans that would have been hanging over me. I’ve paid my fine out of respect for the arbitration panel and have then taken the decisions out of the tour’s hands. I honestly want to move on.”
As regards the Ryder Cup, he is similarly resigned.
“Could you imagine them allowing Luke [Donald, the Ryder Cup captain], to involve one of us, no matter how well one of us might be playing?” Westwood said.
“I don’t want to talk about other LIV players who might not be eligible anymore, but there will be so much experience lost now, all because the tour has gone into bed with the PGA Tour. That’s not the way it was. And not the way I think it should be. Like I said, it’s time for me to move on.”
