Players from LIV Golf will be allowed to compete in next month’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on the DP World Tour, but under one condition: They won’t be allowed to wear the logo from the controversial Saudi-backed circuit.
In an email from DP World Tour chief Keith Pelley to LIV Golf players participating in the Tour’s flagship event, players have been asked not to wear LIV logos on their clothes, as first reported by The Telegraph. Pelley also informed LIV players that they will not be required to play in the tournament’s Wednesday Pro-Am and said “out of respect for our partners, our broadcasters and your fellow competitors, we would kindly ask you to consider not wearing LIV Golf-branded apparel during your participation at Wentworth.”
LIV Golf contracts include a stipulation that its players must wear LIV Golf-branded clothing competing on other circuits, according to a report earlier this month from The Wall Street Journal.
There are 18 players from LIV, including Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, in the the field for the BMW PGA, which runs Sept. 8-11 outside of London. The PGA Tour has indefinitely suspended players who have teed it up on LIV. Players on the DP World Tour initially shared a similar fate before arbiter Sports Resolutions UK issued a “stay” that allows them to compete on the European-based circuit until a full hearing is conducted next year.
The LIV golfers will also be joined in the field by a number of PGA Tour players, including Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, U.S. Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick and defending champion Billy Horschel, in what will be an awkward scenario.
“I hate what it’s doing to the game of golf,” McIlroy said after winning the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup on Sunday. “I hate it. I really do. Like, it’s going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks’ time and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”
Fitzpatrick concurred that it will be strange to say the least.
“It’s going to be odd seeing certain people, obviously, at Wentworth,” he said. “That is going to be a bit weird, and obviously it’s a little bit disappointing.”