New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox has called for the DP World Tour to follow the PGA Tour's lead and ban its players who play in the Saudi-backed Liv Golf Invitational Series.
Fox is in Boston preparing to play at the US Open for the fourth time, having made the cutonce on debut in 2018 when he finished tied for 41st. The tournament gets underway on Friday morning at Brookline.
Fox has described the situation in the sport as a "mess" after watching the inaugural Liv event kick off in London last week. The 48-player field competed for US$25 million, the richest purse in golf, part of an eight-tournament series worth a staggering US$255 million.
The PGA Tour immediately moved to ban all players who are playing in the Liv series, meaning the likes of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Bryson DeChambeau are now suspended from the Tour indefinitely. But the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) has made no decision on what action, if any, it will take. Chief executive Keith Pelley has said the Tour's decision will be revealed on June 23.
"I don't hold a grudge against the guys that have gone," Fox told the Herald. "It's just I think the Tour has to take a stand in that regard. The guys applied for releases, the releases were turned down. So they've gone against tournament regulations. So from that side of things, yes, I think the Tour has to do something.
"There's probably still a little bit of frustration from the Europeans point of view. We don't really know what's happening as yet, if there's going to be some sort of suspension or ban."
Ryan Fox is ranked 62nd in the world. Photo / Getty Images
The Kiwi, who will play alongside one of the Liv Tour recruits Richard Bland of England for the first two rounds of the US Open, has already chatted to the veteran about his decision.
"I also completely understand why someone like Richard Bland went. It's a retirement fund for him and he can deal with the stick he's going to get and he's played well enough the last couple of years to get that opportunity, if you want to call it that. And I certainly don't hold a grudge against him. But I do think the Tour has got to do something, and it's going to be interesting to see what they will do."
Bland is just two places behind Fox in eighth on the DP World Tour standings.
"I've already chatted to him this week," Fox said. "Asked him how it was last week and what he thought of it. From his point of view he said the players were treated well, which was always going to be something they did, and he enjoyed the tournament. But I think from the outside looking in, there's probably more questions than answers."
Fox believes ultimately the bigger battles will be fought out in court and he's sure there will be a lot of damage done to the sport.
"It's kind of a scary proposition. Who knows what's going to happen? But I can understand why some people took the money and I'm very surprised why some people didn't, but it's obviously going to be a very controversial subject for a very long time. There's a multitude of things like human rights issues, the idea of sportswashing, trying to buy basically a whole sport.
"Then from the player's point of view, the whole idea of independent contractors, players can play wherever they like, and people have a lot of different viewpoints on that. So overall, it's just a mess."
Dustin Johnson, of the United States, is receiving US125m to join the Saudi-funded rebel golf tour. Photo / Getty Images
The Kiwi, who is 63rd in the world rankings on the back of some outstanding form in recent weeks, has always maintained he wouldn't consider joining the rebel tour.
But what if obscene amounts of money were dangled in front of him? Tiger Woods reportedly turned down US$700m while Dustin Johnson signed on for US$125m, according to reports.
"I don't know - I haven't had a number put to me. $700 million would be pretty hard to turn down I imagine. But I haven't even entertained the thought of it and five years down the track if it's a legitimate option and the money is still the same it might be an option. But right now, I haven't really thought about it."
Fox has a late start in the opening round at the US Open (6.20am of Friday) and is somewhat disappointed he didn't get an early start on the opening day, for non-golfing reasons.
"The NBA finals (game six) is on in Boston so it would have been a nice opportunity to potentially see some history there. That's sort of one of those things that's been on the bucket list. But the golf is a little more important. Hopefully I can go shoot a couple of good scores and be in the mix. That'll make up for missing a basketball game."
