Louis Oosthuizen who plays on the Stingers GC on LIV Golf Tour won back-to-back events on European Tour in December 2023
LIV Tour players have secured an amazing 5 victories in the current season of the European (DP World) Tour.
With the DP World Tour starting in South Africa, Dean Burmester won the Joburg Open & South African Open Championship while the evergreen Louis Oosthuizen won the Alfred Dunhill Championship and Mauritius Open. Soon after, Chilean Joaquin Neimann won the ISPS Handa Australian Open which is a remarkable run for LIV Players and the quality of players on the LIV Tour underlines the case for the LIV Tour awarding Official World Ranking Points, which it currently does not.
When top players from the PGA Tour and the European Tour joined LIV Golf, the rival golf tour, the media and fans labeled them as aging and suggested that they had run out of gas. The golf world, including the PGA TOUR and the European Tour, even took measures to ban these players. The European Tour went a step further by announcing substantial fines for those participating in LIV tournaments.
In the recent past, as the three tours attempt to foster better relations and usher in a new chapter in professional golf, there is an expectation that the PGA TOUR’s potential collaboration with the PIF, the Saudi government fund seeking to invest in it, will lead to a joint effort to reinstate these players. The European Tour has shown a softer stance on its previous position and has begun allowing banned players to participate in its events.
These are the LIV players who were able to play European Tour events recently –
Australian PGA Championship
Cameron Smith
Jediah Morgan
Marc Leishman
Wade Ormsby
Joaquin Niemann
Mito Pereira
Laurie Canter
Joburg Open
Branden Grace
Charl Schwartzel
Dean Burmester
These players gained entry to the events during the season break of the LIV Golf Tour, and since they were not members of the European Tour, no sanctions applied to them. Additionally, they received invitations based on country exemptions, further working in their favor.
Participation in European Tour events has enabled LIV players to earn Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, which are missing on LIV. Opportunities like these, coupled with Asian Tour events, are significant for LIV players. Despite competing on an ineligible tour, labelling them as worn-out seems inappropriate given their impressive results thus far.
These five wins have been achieved in the 12 events played on the European Tour. Notably, only South Africa and Australia allowed them to participate under country exemptions.
Photo – Asian Tour