Keith Pelley passionately defends DP World Tour after Lee Westwood 'feeder' tour claims, also denies LIV deal

DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has launched a passionate defence of his organisation after Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia downplayed its importance. Both players joined the LIV Golf series earlier this year and have criticised Pelley’s response to the Saudi-backed breakaway tour. Ad While Westwood claimed the European tour has become a “feeder” to other competitions, Garcia thinks it will become the fifth best tour in the world.

BMW PGA Championship'A slap in the face' — Rahm, Horschel take swipe at LIV Golf players6 HOURS AGO Both will be taking to the course at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, along with 15 other LIV players. This in itself has caused much debate, with some competitors, including Jon Rahm, questioning whether they should be allowed to compete. Defending champion Billy Horschel made his stance clear, saying “I don’t think those guys really should be here”, with other DP World Tour members missing out on the chance to play the tournament.

Reacting to Garcia’s comments in a news conference ahead at Wentworth, Pelley said, “«It's unbelievable. Let's look at the facts. If the metric determining the top tours in the world is just money, then the number one tour is the PGA Tour, always has been.

You could argue that the LIV Invitational Series is number two.” »But The Asian Tour, $22.5m; Korn Ferry, $20m; Japan, $28m; Australia, $5.8m; Sunshine Tour, $7.4m. Totalling all their prize funds together comes to just half of our tour. So even if the only metric is money, how possibly could we ever become number five”, he said.