This week’s BMW PGA Championship may well be the DP World Tour’s flagship event, but it has again been the scene of much controversy.

Back in 2010, players heavily criticized Ernie Els for his redesign of the Surrey track – Miguel Angel Jimenez saying, “If you had a Picasso in a frame would you say ‘Now I want to see a line there?” – and 12 years later it is again the scene of tension amongst players – this time between the 17 LIV players permitted to play, and the tour itself.

Already we have seen the DP World Tour place restrictions on all the LIV players, with organizer’s sending out notifications such as, “You will not be required to play in the Wednesday pro-am and out of respect for our broadcasters and your fellow competitors we would kindly ask you to consider not wearing LIV-golf apparel.”

Regular DP players Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, winners of the FedEx Cup and U.S. Open respectively, also made their feeling known.

World No. 2, McIlroy, openly said,”Like it’s going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks’ time and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn’t sit right with me,” whilst Fitz commented that it would be “odd,” to be playing alongside the so-called rebel golfers.

Sergio Garcia, one of the most heavily criticized and outspoken of the LIV players, said over the weekend that he was sure there would be tension but, “whoever doesn’t like it, too bad for them,” before flying out from Boston with several fellow LIV golfers to arrive in time for the DP World Tour’s AGM.

As reported by The Telegraph, players such as Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Garcia, challenged DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley to reveal more about the “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour “as well as issues such as potential sanctions coming the LIV players’ way after the U.S. circuit issued indefinite bans.”

The publication spoke to one anonymous player, who revealed that Pelley “battled well.” However, another was more disappointed, saying, “We didn’t get in as many questions as we wanted and Keith just kept replying that ‘we’re in the middle of an ongoing legal case, so I can’t give you an answer.’ He also said that the DP World Tour was a pathway to the PGA Tour, but wouldn’t say “feeder tour.” At least his answers are down in writing now.”

Lee Westwood, embroiled with a few players on social media regarding the rights and wrongs of current golf politics, is reported as staying silent about the meeting but was happy to make a comment about the new ruling that awards the top-10 DP World Tour players a card for its U.S. partner.

“I mean, what company or organisation gives away its 10 best assets at the end of every year – especially to a rival or competitor?” Westwood said. “I’m not convinced by the strategic alliance because I’ve seen how the PGA Tour has behaved over the years. There’s not been much ‘give.’ They have always been bullies… I have been telling Keith and other members of his board how this is all going to go for 12 months now. I told him that getting into bed with the PGA Tour was a mistake.”

The Telegraph report that Westwood’s main issue is the reluctance of the then European Tour to accept a substantial offer from Saudi Arabia, allowing the formation of a substantial rival to the PGA Tour.

The report gives the reasons for the refusal:

“Pelley, however, has dismissed this, informing his members in June that “materially this was not a good deal for the European Tour” and that “the figures were nowhere near those being bandied about in the media and in the players lounge over the past couple of months”.

With tensions running high, and with no need to get up for Wednesday’s pro-am, many of the LIV contingent will appear at Tuesday evening’s players meeting, at which “Keith has said he will spend the entire hour taking questions on the ‘strategic alliance’ and LIV and any other concerns.” The rebels might find it easier to probe for their answers in that less formal setting. It should be even spicier.

More from the 19th Hole

• DP World Tour pro makes a hole-in-one and then gets disqualified
• Gary Player blasts Cam Smith’s LIV move and claims another major champ ‘had no money, so he had to go’
• Golfer suspected of cheating in wild disqualification incident at Q-School