ADARE, Ireland – Ian Poulter and two other DP World Tour members who had been barred from playing this week’s Scottish Open will get their chance to compete at The Renaissance Club after all.
A judge appointed by Sport Resolutions, a U.K.-based, non-profit global arbitrator, granted stays for Poulter, Adrian Otaegui and Justin Harding that will allow them to play the Scottish Open. According to a release from the European tour, the stays are “pending determination of their substantive appeals by an appeal panel in due course.”
Poulter and 15 other players were fined approximately $105,000 and barred from playing the Scottish Open, along with two other events co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour (Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship), for violating tournament regulations and playing the first LIV Golf event last month without the required releases. At least one other player, Patrick Reed, was “withdrawn” from the event after playing in the LIV event last week.
“We are disappointed by the outcome of today’s hearing,” DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said in a statement, “but will abide by the decision. It is important to remember, however, this is only a stay of the sanctions imposed, pending the hearing of the players’ appeal as to whether those sanctions were appropriate.”
The field for the Scottish Open will be increased beyond 156 players to accommodate the late entries.
Poulter commented on the matter in a Telegraph report published on Sunday. While he was among 16 players who sent a collective to DP World Tour headquarters last week demanding suspensions be lifted or legal action would be pursued, he insisted he was acting independently in seeking this injunction.
“I feel disappointed, I feel offended, that I’m suspended from playing on a tour I’ve been a member of for nearly a quarter of a century,” Poulter told The Telegraph. “My commitment to my European Tour card was always to continue and play more events. But I’ve been told I can’t so I’m waiting to hear a panel’s review to see if I can go and play [in Scotland]. Hopefully, we can get it lifted.”
Poulter added that he didn’t know what the full consequences would be for playing the LIV events.
“We knew there would be some form of action,” he claimed, “but it was never spelled out to us, and I feel the action they have taken is too severe.”
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