Report: DP World Tour wins arbitration case against LIV Golf players

The DP World Tour has won its arbitration case against LIV Golf players, who had challenged the circuit’s move to suspend and fine them for joining the breakaway league, according to a Times of London report.

The arbitration case was held in February when a group of players challenged the European tour’s conflicting-event release regulations and the fines that were levied on those who played LIV events last year without a release.

The five-day arbitration hearing was held before a panel of three and was confidential.

“Out of respect for the confidentiality of the process conducted by Sport Resolutions, we will make no comment on any aspect of the arbitration until the decision is formally announced,” a spokesperson for the DP World Tour told The Times.

Ian Poulter and two other players initially challenged the European tour’s regulations and requested a conflicting-event release to play the first LIV event last year in London, but were denied and fined £100,000. Those players appealed those fines and suspensions and were allowed to participate in DP World Tour events until February’s hearing before Sports Resolutions UK.

The number of players who joined LIV Golf and were challenging the European tour’s regulations grew to 13.

According to The Times report, an official announcement from the hearing should come this week.

A spokesperson for LIV Golf declined to comment on the Times report.

A group of three PGA Tour players who joined LIV Golf and were suspended by the Tour are similarly challenging the circuit’s conflicting-event release regulations in an anti-trust lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court last year. That lawsuit is scheduled for trial in January 2024.