Georgia’s Hudson Swafford and Georgia Tech’s Andy Ogletree were among 17 golfers suspended by the PGA Tour on Thursday for their involvement in LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed league. Swafford and Ogletree are entrants in the LIV event in London this week.
PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan issued a memo to PGA Tour members announcing the suspension from PGA tournament play, including the Presidents Cup. The suspension also applies to the Korn Ferry Tour, the Champions Tour, PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
“These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons,” Monahan wrote in the memo. “But they can’t demand the same PGA Tour membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as you. The expectation disrespects you, our fans and our partners. You have made a different choice, which is to abide by the Tournament Regulations you agreed to when you accomplished the dream of earning a PGA Tour card and – more importantly – to compete as part of the preeminent organization in the world of professional golf.”
In addition to Swafford and Ogletree, the suspended golfers are Sergio Garcia, Talor Gooch, Branden Grace, Dustin Johnson, Matt Jones, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen, Turk Pettit, Ian Poulter, Charl Schwartzel, Peter Uihlein and Lee Westwood. Garcia, Grace, Johnson, Kaymer, McDowell, Na, Oosthuizen, Pettit, Schwartzel and Westwood have informed the PGA Tour that they have resigned their membership.
The suspended golfers who resigned their membership will be removed from the FedEx Cup points list, according to the memo.
On whether the players can return to the PGA Tour or eventually play on the Champions Tour, Monahan wrote, “Trust that we’re prepared to deal with those questions, and we’ll approach them in the same way we have this entire process: by being transparent and respecting the PGA Tour regulations that you help establish.”
Swafford competed in his third Masters in April and finished tied for 30th, his best finish of the year. The 34-year-old is ranked 95th in the world. The three-time PGA Tour winner missed the cut at the PGA Championship last month. He has $9,650,377 in career earnings in 216 PGA Tour events after turning professional in 2011.
Ogletree, who won the 2019 U.S. Amateur championship while at Tech, turned professional in November 2020 (after he was low amateur at the Masters, an appearance earned from his U.S. Amateur victory) and has been beset by injuries and poor results. He played in four PGA Tour events early in the 2020-21 season as a professional, making the cut once, and then had hip surgery in April 2021, rendering him unable to compete for several months. Since then, he has played in events on a limited basis, including a regional tour event in February in Daytona Beach, Fla., where the purse was $83,365.
The initial LIV event, to be played this week outside London, will have a purse of $25 million for the 48 entrants. The winner will receive $4 million, and the last-place finisher in the no-cut event will take home $120,000. There also is a team competition within the tournament, with $5 million of the purse going to the top three teams.
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