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Former world No. 1 Lee Westwood says his choice to settle his fines with the DP World Tour was about providing him with "options" given LIV Golf's uncertain future.
Westwood and his Majesticks co-captain Ian Poulter have both paid off the financial penalties they accumulated with the European circuit after joining LIV as founding members in 2022. They were penalized for each tournament they competed in in the breakaway league before losing an arbitration case in 2023, which prompted them to resign their memberships.
The Ryder Cup icons were incensed about the financial sanctions they faced, and Westwood pledged never to return to the tour where he ranks second only to Rory McIlroy on the all-time money list. He suggested a possible return in June during LIV's financial difficulties.
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Later that month, both he and Poulter paid the fines they owed to the tour, allowing them to reapply for membership. Their combined fines are understood to total approximately $1.1 million each, and they will be able to apply for reinstatement in November.
Westwood shared his perspective at a press conference before LIV Golf U.K., which starts at JCB Golf and Country Club in Uttoxeter, England, on Thursday. He stated: "What it does is give us options having them paid."
"When the current financial backers of the tour are talking about pulling out and we're being indemnified, it just makes sense to get them paid straight away before they do pull out. That's really why we had them paid when we did.
"But I still don't agree with the fines because we are being completely treated differently to the people playing on this tour. I think the fines were excessive, as well, when you consider what other people did and how much they got fined historically."
Former world No. 5 Poulter went on to say: "Look, the fines were always going to be paid at some point, and that was down to myself and Lee to choose when that time was right.
"The European Tour and LIV Golf and the acceptance of it all, it's all in a very different position today than what it was four years ago when we were being fined the way we were. There are no fines in place today for guys that are playing on LIV Golf, and that's a massive change. When you look certainly how Jon [Rahm] and Tyrrell [Hatton] were treated back in the day, to still be able to play European Tour golf and play in Ryder Cups.
"Things are moving forward in the right direction. What does it mean for me playing-wise on the European Tour? I'm not sure yet, to be honest with you. I'm still hopeful that things work out in the right way for me to play a number of different tournaments at different times."
The decision to wipe the disciplinary record clean arrives as questions mount regarding LIV's future following Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund's announcement that it would cease funding after this season. The league suffered another setback in its pursuit of new backers on Tuesday when the Asian Tour revealed it had formed a partnership with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
Westwood, specifically, felt aggrieved by the sanctions he encountered in the months following LIV's debut, having maintained his status as an active European Tour member despite having chances to compete full-time on the PGA Tour.
The 53-year-old Englishman opposes the strategic alliance between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, which was established following the LIV breakaway.
The 10-card rule, which grants PGA Tour membership to the top-10 finishers in the DP World Tour's Race To Dubai not already qualified to compete in the U.S., troubles Westwood particularly, as he believes the system is siphoning talent from Europe.
"I think [the DP World Tour is] spinning a lot of plates at the moment, right, with funding from the PGA Tour and things like that, and it's clear to me that their fields improve when LIV players are allowed to play," he said.
"But LIV players aren't allowed to play on the PGA Tour at the moment, are they, yet the PGA Tour gets a certain amount of say. They have a board member on the European Tour, and they fund it a lot. So they probably have a certain amount of say down at Wentworth, right?"
