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Martin Kaymer wants PGA and DP World Tours to talk to LIV Golf to find a way to co-exist together amid ongoing controversy over PGA Tour suspensions and DP World Tour sanctions including bans for three tournaments and £100,000 fines .
The German is taking part in the DP World Tour this week on home soil, but is now banned from next month’s Scottish Open, as well as the Barracuda and Barbasol Championships, and will also be forced to pay £100,000 to the DP. WorldTour. after making the move to LIV Golf.
In an interview with Sky Sports, he expressed his confusion about how the tours have not spoken to LIV, saying he finds it “very hard to believe that they can’t find a solution together”. The former World No. 1 and two-time Major winner also said that he doesn’t see why LIV Golf should be seen as harmful and that he is concerned about the Ryder Cup.
“I made my choice and I can live with anything that comes my way,” he told Sky Sports’ Rob Lee. “I’m happy to play golf anywhere in the world. I’m happy to support any tour because I believe in all tours and in different ways. So if it comes to this, now if I’m not allowed to play.” any tournament then that’s what it is.
Kaymer finished 15th in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series tournament at the Centurion Club this month.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“I just hope that it doesn’t affect the Ryder Cup too much because that has a lot to do with emotions. Not only for the players, but also for the tour and the sponsors. So I hope that everyone can come to the table and find solutions that are good for all and not bad for all.
“I find it very hard to believe that they can’t find a solution together. And there’s no reason why they should be against each other. Because, you know, there is no one tour that owns golf, we should all work together for it. big picture.
“I do not understand why [LIV Golf taking the 48 best players in the world] it would be harmful because it is just another option to play golf. It’s not like we’re giving up other tours and the pressure that comes from different tours. I’m not saying, you know, LIV is the best out there and they don’t have any special rules either. But the main thing is that nobody is against each other, but somehow it seems like everybody is, you know, ‘LIV is taking over, LIV is against the PGA Tour and the European tour.’ I’ve never heard that from anyone at LIV.”
Kaymer also said that he and other big European names would continue to play DP World Tour events and even agree to play in some of the tour’s smaller events to help out if the tour could reach an agreement with LIV Golf. But, the bottom line, he says, is that tours need to talk.
“It’s fantastic. It’s fantastic for me,” he said of the prospect of playing 14 LIV events and four Majors in the future. “But I will still play the tournaments in Germany, I would still play, for example, the Scottish Open, you know, those events that the best players in the world deserve. Obviously, it would be great to also have a plan that the player was a member of the European Tour plays. maybe a couple of smaller events, you know, to support that. But the fact is you need to talk to each other and make a plan together. And this is the bottom line, you need to talk.”
Martin Kaymer gives his opinion on the current difficulties of the LIV/PGA Tour/DP World Tour… pic.twitter.com/UEDJAwsqYAJune 24, 2022