It didn’t take long for word of Sergio Garcia’s WD to reach the disciplinary office at the DP World Tour. Perhaps because it didn’t have to travel very far.
Wentworth, the annual host of last weekend’s BMW PGA Championship, doubles as the worldwide headquarters for golf’s second-biggest tour. Meaning that when Garcia elected to pack things up and leave town for Texas after an opening-round 76 last Thursday, the players weren’t the only ones who noticed his absence.
Now, that decision could be cause for punishment levied against the former Masters champ. According to a report from ESPN, the DP World Tour is considering disciplinary action against Garcia for failing to provide a reason for his withdrawal from the event.
According to the DP World Tour handbook, players are forbidden from withdrawing from events with the exception of “emergency reasons or medical circumstances deemed reasonable by the tournament director.” The tour, according to the report, has not received any reasoning for Garcia’s WD.
Garcia has 21 days from the time of his withdrawal to provide written proof of medical circumstances causing the WD. Should the tour find him in violation of its rules, Garcia would face a fine in line with its general regulations.
Of course, Garcia has already been the subject of disciplinary action from the DP World Tour this year. Earlier this summer, the tour fined Garcia and 15 other golfers £100,000, or around $125,000, for their decision to join LIV Golf. The tour also suspended the group from the Scottish Open, an event it co-sanctions with the PGA Tour.
Garcia’s WD came at a time of increased tensions between LIV and PGA Tour players, who competed in the same field at a non-major for the first time at the BMW PGA. When, on Saturday, Garcia was spotted on the sidelines of the Texas-Alabama football game, his decision to leave the event grew even more contentious. Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir reported that Jon Rahm was particularly upset by Garcia’s decision, “as his good friend Alfredo García-Heredia was first reserve.” In other words, Garcia’s flippant WD cost García-Heredia a spot in the field.
Ultimately, Shane Lowry won the BMW PGA, fending off late charges by both PGA Tour stalwarts (Rahm and Rory McIlroy finished T2) and LIV Golfers (Talor Gooch and Patrick Reed finished 4th and 5th, respectively). “I wanted to win for myself first and foremost, but for everyone that has stayed loyal to this tour,” Lowry said after the victory. “I really feel this is one for the good guys.”
