Westwood and Garcia address LIV legal battle with Ryder Cup bans looming

04 April 2023 , 22:07

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LIV rebels have lost their legal battle with the DP World Tour (Image: Getty Images)

Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia have addressed the result of the LIV Golf legal battle that effectively spells the end of the duo's storied involvement in the Ryder Cup.

LIV rebels have lost their crucial arbitration case against the DP World Tour in a huge blow for Greg Norman's Saudi-funded enterprise.

A total of 13 renegades, including Westwood, had disputed the Tour's right to impose sanctions on golfers who played in conflicting LIV events without permission.

But The Times reported on Tuesday that a three-person Sports Resolutions panel has now ruled in favour of the DP World Tour, with a verdict expected to be officially confirmed on Thursday.

The ruling has huge implications for LIV players such as Westwood, Garcia and Ian Poulter, who had all been stalwarts of both the European circuit and the Ryder Cup.

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This is because the DP World Tour can now fine and suspend LIV players from their events, making it implausible for them to play on the Tour whilst fulfilling their obligation to play in the 14-event rebel series.

And if the LIV players opt to respond by relinquishing their DP World Tour memberships to avoid further sanctions, they will be ineligible to play in the Ryder Cup in September. Westwood confirmed the crushing verdict to Telegraph Sport, saying that he was "going to wait for the official announcement and then take stock."

Westwood has confirmed that LIV have lost the legal case (Getty Images)

Europe's all-time leading points scorer Garcia, meanwhile, said that he had no input in the arbitration case. The Spaniard still believes his Ryder Cup future rests on his own performances as he targets the most improbable of wildcards from captain Luke Donald ahead of the biennial showdown with the USA in Rome.

"I haven't heard. I haven't been a part of it. I tried to stay away from all that," Garcia said ahead of the start of the The Masters. "I can only do what I can do, and that is to play the tournaments I can play, try to play them the best way possible, and then everything else is out of my hands.

"So the decisions if we can get picked or will get picked or anything like that, it's not going to come down to me. It's going to come down to my game and if the captain, Luke, thinks that I'm good enough. We'll see."

Ben Parsons