Henrik Stenson hits out over DP World Tour fines

Henrik Stenson has called out the DP World Tour over “inconsistencies” with the sanctions handed out to players on the LIV Golf League.

Speaking on Garrett Johnston’s Beyond the Clubhouse podcast at LIV Greenbrier, Stenson suggested Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have not been treated the same as he was after joining the breakaway league.

Stenson, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter all resigned their Tour memberships last year amid mounting fines and suspensions for competing in conflicting LIV events.

And Westwood – who told Peter Finch’s Rough Cut podcast that his own outstanding fines had racked up to circa £850,000 – claimed on the same episode that Rahm and Hatton were being given less severe financial punishments.

Stenson was famously forced to forego the 2023 Ryder Cup captaincy when he joined LIV, while Rahm and Hatton both remain eligible for next year’s match at Bethpage Black after holding onto their DP World Tour cards.

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“They’re two world-class players – everyone knows that – so I’d be surprised if they weren’t to be on the team,” Stenson said.

“On the same note, though, given how a lot of other European players that went to LIV have been treated, looked upon, and fined – you talked about inconsistency earlier, I’d like to see some consistency in how all of this is dealt with.

“I think you just need to treat everyone the same. Either you can be a member of the European Tour and the European Ryder Cup team [or you cannot]. Are you fining certain players in certain situations and not in others and so on? Consistency is all that everyone is after.”

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After Westwood’s initial accusation back in May, bunkered.co.uk reached out to the DP World Tour for comment on the potential issue of contrasting fines.

A Tour spokesperson said: “We do not discuss the specific detail of player sanctions but the reality is we have been, and continue to be, consistent, fair and proportionate in assessing breaches of our Conflicting Tournament Regulation.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.