Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia quit DP World Tour

Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have resigned from the DP World Tour, effectively ending their long and distinguished associations with the Ryder Cup.

Along with Richard Bland, the trio have quit the former European Tour with the threat of significant sanctions hanging over them following their move to the LIV Golf League last year.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the former European Tour said: “The DP World Tour today confirmed it has received membership resignations from Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Richard Bland and Lee Westwood who were sanctioned for serious breaches of the Tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulation committed last June.”

• McIlroy breaks silence following Masters MC

• Tiger and caddie LaCava go separate ways

It was announced last month that the DP World Tour had won an arbitration case against multiple LIV-aligned appellants, enabling them to impose sanctions against members who played in LIV tournaments without permission of their ‘home’ circuit.

The DP World Tour has yet to confirm what those punishments might be, although it has been speculated that they could take the form of huge fines.

Rather than face them, it is understood that several LIV golfers are now preparing to resign en masse from the DP World Tour – Westwood, Garcia and Poulter amongst them.

“I could not really see any other option with all the punishments hanging over me,” Westwood told The Telegraph.

“I don’t agree with the direction Keith [Pelley] and his board have taken and I want to move on.”

By resigning from the DP World Tour, those players are now ineligble to play in this year’s Ryder Cup. It will be the first time since 1995 that the match will go ahead without at least one of the star trio taking part.

Between them, Westwood, Poulter and Garcia have played in 28 Ryder Cups, contributing 68.5 points to the European cause.

• Donald Trump in Scotland to visit resorts

• PGA Tour caddies team up with underwear brand

Westwood shares the record for most appearances for the European side (11) whilst Garcia is the contest’s all-time record points-scorer.

Per the rules, the trio can also never captain or be a vice-captain in the match.

Last month, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley revealed that Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Garcia had ruled themselves out of those honours by failing to meet their minimum requirements for membership of the tour last year.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor