DP World Tour will not admit LIV Golf players in the 2027 season — BBC Sport
DP World Tour will not grant membership in 2027 to golfers who sign up to compete in the next LIV Golf season. DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings told BBC Sport about this. According to him, players must choose where to compete and comply with the rules of the European tour, which is sponsored by DP World.
New membership conditions
In previous seasons, DP World Tour granted conditional releases to certain leading golfers, allowing them to play in both DP World Tour and LIV Golf. These athletes included Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. This year, nine players received conditional releases.
Golfers will now have to state which tours they plan to play on next year. This information will be taken into account when deciding on their DP World Tour membership. If a player does not disclose an intention to play in LIV Golf and later joins the tour, this may be grounds for terminating their membership.
About 15 LIV Golf players, including Rahm, Hatton, Victor Perez and Tom McKibbin, hold status on DP World Tour under one of the membership categories. Other players, including Joaquin Niemann and Thomas Pieters, do not have such status. Only DP World Tour members can represent Europe in the Ryder Cup.
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Deadlines and the future of LIV Golf
Players can register to compete on DP World Tour next year until November 16. Under the terms of LIV Golf's court-supervised restructuring process, it must sign players by October 25.
In September, LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after multibillion-dollar funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was discontinued. Last week, the tour said it had secured the possibility of obtaining up to $300 million in financing from BC Partners Credit to continue operating in the 2027 season.
According to BBC Sport, DP World Tour's tougher approach is linked, among other things, to LIV Golf's proposal to give players an equity stake in a future project. The European tour considers this incompatible with members' organizational status. Two-time major winner Jon Rahm has already said that he will not continue competing in LIV Golf.
