LIV Golf rebels handed February date for decision over DP World Tour future

D-day for members of the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, who are seeking clearance to continue to play in that environment despite joining LIV Golf, will arrive in early February.

Last month an arbitration judge placed a pause on sanctions – a suspension plus £100,000 fine – against golfers including the Ryder Cup stars Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio García and Graeme McDowell who featured on the LIV platform without being cleared to do so by the DP World Tour. Poulter, Justin Harding and Adrian Otaegui had fronted that legal challenge.

Eighteen LIV recruits are expected to tee up when the DP World Tour stages its marquee event, the PGA Championship, at Wentworth next week. In demonstrating how volatile this scenario is, none of the 18 will play in the pre-tournament pro-am or appear on television’s featured groups.

The Guardian has now learned the full hearing, presided over by Sport Resolutions UK, will take place in front of a panel over five days in little over five months’ time. Until that point, LIV rebels can continue participate in DP World Tour events where eligible, collect Ryder Cup qualification points and feature on the order of merit. This opens the door for the involvement of the players in question in the Race to Dubai finale in November plus the Middle East swing in January 2023.

The timeframe is in stark contrast to on the opposite side of the Atlantic, where a legal objection to PGA Tour bans by a handful of LIV members will not be heard until the autumn of next year at the earliest.

On the day when Ryder Cup Europe confirmed the captain, Luke Donald, will have six wildcard picks for the biennial event in Rome next September, the DP World Tour’s chief executive, Keith Pelley, sent an