Expect Another Week of Controversy as LIV Golfers Compete at BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth

Patrick Reed and Lee Westwood are two LIV golfers and DP World Tour stalwarts set to compete during what appears to be another complicated week.

Patrick Reed is one of many players in the field this week at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Long the flagship event of the DP World Tour, the BMW is in for a week of tumult and mayhem as a contingent of LIV golfers, including Reed, are slated to play this week outside of London.

Last week those LIV members received an email that their participation in the Wednesday Pro-Am is not required. The Tour also requested that LIV logos and LIV team logos not be worn.

LIV players will not be paired to fit inside the television window and even BMW courtesy cars are reportedly being denied to those players who defected.

In Reed’s case, the email directive is problematic, as he is an ambassador for LIV Golf and his contract requires him to wear the logo when playing in golf events.

“We are looking into options,” Reed told Sports Illustrated last week in Boston, regarding the requested ban on LIV apparel.

Reed was granted lifetime membership on the DP World Tour in February 2019, after his 2018 Masters win. At that time he joined fellow Americans Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson to receive the honor.

European Tour CEO Keith Pelley said then that Reed was a global player who had fully embraced the European Tour and become popular with its fans.

Today those words may not ring as true, as Pelley would clearly not wish to see any of the LIV golfers at Wentworth this week.

Reed believes that not only did he earn his spot, but that he has also been a staunch advocate for the tour. “I was supporter even when others weren’t during COVID,” he said. “I went to the events when others didn’t.”

One European Tour member joked last week that over the last five years Reed has been more supportive of the European Tour than Rory McIlroy. Reed made the trek from the U.S. to Wentworth to play in the BMW in 2020 when most of the world was in lockdown, finishing T3. He also made the trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, and notched another T3.

In 2019, Reed played in seven DP World Tour events, excluding majors and WGC events, and in 2020 he played three more.

For some, the desire to play at Wentworth is to not only to keep their playing privileges, but to be Ryder Cup-eligible for next year’s event in Rome.

Lee Westwood, 49, is exempt in various ways on the DP World Tour, so playing in another event will only add to a career total of 586 DP World Tour starts.

He returns to Wentworth this week for his 29th BMW PGA. And he believes he not only has the right to play but he also wants to leave the door open for the Ryder Cup while supporting the tour, where he’s been a member since 1993.

“I'm not going to let anybody spoil that for me,” Westwood told SI when asked about his streak of Wentworth appearances. “I'm a European Tour member, exempt. And I'm just a member of another tour as much like somebody that plays on the PGA Tour is a member of two tours, the European Tour, and the PGA Tour. It's all politics that's stirring this up, I'm just going to play golf and enjoy myself and enjoy the PGA.”

Reader feedback is encouraged at inbox@morningread.com and we may publish your letter (include your name and hometown). Click here to receive all the latest Morning Read news and commentary free in your inbox every morning.