Matt Fitzpatrick is looking to defend his title in Scotland. (Image: Getty)
English golfer Matt Fitzpatrick has hit out at the “disgrace” that has followed the DP World Tour’s merger with the . In November 2020 the two organisations entered a ‘strategic alliance’ that they claimed was designed to ‘connect the ecosystem’ of men’s professional golf.
Fitzpatrick is currently in Scotland ahead of the defence of his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title this week.
But it’s off the course where there could be a seismic impact on the future of the sport, with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings set for pivotal peace talks.
And the 2022 US Open champion has now strongly implied that the decision of bosses four years ago, when the DP World Tour was still known as the European Tour, contributed to future discontent and the creation of LIV Golf. “I don’t think the Tour should have gone with the PGA Tour,” he said at St Andrews.
“I was pretty livid, to be honest, at Wentworth when I found out that there was a handful of PGA Tour players coming to play the BMW PGA Championship. And at that point in time, not every person who kept their card last year got in the field, which I think is a disgrace. That’s the flagship event.
“There’s no invites given to European Tour players at The Players Championship. So why are we dishing them out for Wentworth? I thought that was absolutely absurd that that even went through.”
Fitzpatrick in practice this week. (Image: Getty)
The timing of the 30-year-old’s comments is intriguing, as negotiations over a potential merger between the DP World and PGA Tour, and the Saudi-backed venture, reach a crucial stage. A ‘framework agreement’ was first announced in June 2023, but progress has since been slow.
And Fitzpatrick wasn’t afraid to voice his own proposal, claiming the sport would benefit by following the model used in domestic European football leagues. “You have basically like a , Championship and League One of golf,” he said.
“You can bring everyone together and there’s more of a relegation promotion, there’s a few more stories there, you can work your way up. If everyone was together, I feel like that would be more beneficial, anyway.”
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However, Fitzpatrick also conceded that he and fellow players needed to leave negotiations to the bosses of the respective tours. “There’s people that are smarter than me are involved,” he added.
“They know how to run businesses and know what to do and they are smart people. Smarter than me, and I would say smarter than the majority of the PGA Tour players and golfers.”