Why is LIV Golf star Lee Westwood barred from Senior Open Championship? Real reason explored

Lee Westwood will not be able to compete in the Senior Open Championship despite the merger deal between LIV Golf, the DP World Tour, and the PGA Tour.

Lee Westwood, who turned 50 last month, was planning to make his senior tour debut at the Senior Open Championship that is scheduled for next month. However, as per the Telegraph, Westwood's application was rejected as he has still not paid the fines that the DP World Tour charged him for playing in Saudi-backed circuit events.

Although R&A has allowed LIV-associated players like Westwood to compete in the Open Championship, the Senior Open hasn't allowed everyone. Those who haven't cleared their fines will not be allowed in the R&A and DP World Tour-run event.

Westwood paid £100,000 to compete at LIV Golf's debut event last year. Since then, he has appeared in 13 more events and is yet to pay an £800,000 fine.

Last month, Westwood, along with Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, and Richard Bland, resigned from the European Tour's membership after the latter won the lawsuit against the Saudi-backed circuit golfers.

When the PGA Tour and DP World announced their surprising deal with the PIF, everyone was hoping that the players who left the European Tour would be allowed to come back. However, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley made it clear that the LIV defectors would have to clear their fines if they wanted to rejoin the Tour and be eligible for the Ryder Cup once again.

Here's what Westwood said about his participation in the Senior Open:

"The Senior Open has said I have to pay 'outstanding fines', but I don't 'have to' as I’ve resigned my membership of the Tour and I don’t intend rejoining," Westwood was quoted as per Telegraph. "I'm puzzled. I didn’t know you have to be a member of European Tour to play in the Senior Open. It is not very 'open' if that’s so, is it?"

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Where will Lee Westwood compete next?

Lee Westwood during the LIV Golf Invitational - DC - Pro-Am

Lee Westwood will next be competing at the LIV Golf Valderrama that will take place from Friday, June 30 to Sunday, July 2 at Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain.

Westwood is yet to win an event on the Saudi-backed circuit. This year, Talor Gooch leads the annual leaderboard with two wins so far. He won back-to-back events in Adelaide and Singapore. Branden Grace is in second place with 86 points, followed by Brooks Koepka, who won the Orlando event.

Here's the individual season leaderboard for the LIV Golf League 2023

• 1. Talor Gooch: 96
• 2. Branden Grace: 86
• 3. Brooks Koepka: 85
• 4. Cameron Smith: 83
• 5. Peter Uihlein: 76

In the team portion, last year's winner 4 Aces GC leads once again after seven events. 4 Aces GC, which is captained by Dustin Johnson, won the Adelaide event in April

Here's the team leaderboard after seven events:

• 1. 4 Aces GC: 124
• 2. Stinger GC: 108
• 3. Torque GC: 97
• 4. RangeGoats GC: 91
• 5. Crushers GC: 80