After Bernd Wiesberger made a return to the DP World Tour, he had to apparently pay a hefty fine since he did not actually resign from the DP World Tour when he joined LIV Golf back in 2022 which means that he continued to accumulate fines for playing in the Saudi-funded league. Reports say that LIV Golf paid a total of $1.9 million (£1.5 million) in fines for the Austrian to continue on his home tour.
The 38-year-old has won eight times on the DP World Tour and also participated in the 2021 Ryder Cup. Ever since he joined LIV Golf, his gameplay has faltered considerably, with barely any top-10 finishes. That led him to fall to the 41st position on the LIV leaderboard, thus landing him in the Open Zone. Thus, as a vital career choice, he finally opted to return to his former tour, which got accepted. The DP World Tour also went ahead, shedding light on his return.
DP World Tour Issues Statement and Exclusions for Bernd Wiesberger
Bernd Wiesberger stood in the open zone along with his teammate, Graeme McDowell. Both of their Cleeks GC contracts have not been renewed. While Richard Bland (20) was in the Lock Zone and will be continuing with the team, Bernd had the option to either go to a rival team or get back through LIV’s Promotions event.
UPDATE SEASON 2023/2024 pic.twitter.com/L90gieTMMY
— Bernd Wiesberger (@BWiesberger) November 23, 2023
Realizing the uncertainty of the situation, Wiesberger made the safe choice of applying for a comeback to his former Tour with the promise of fulfilling all financial penalties. On this note, the tour shed a few thoughts.
“He subsequently expressed his desire to play a full DP World Tour schedule in 2024 and has fulfilled all sanctions – both financial and tournament suspensions – that were imposed upon him for breaches of the Tour’s conflicting event regulation across 2022 and 2023.”
But since he breached the contract previously, there will be a few exclusions the tour has mentioned. “Wiesberger’s membership ceased, and he was removed from the Race to Dubai, after he failed to comply with the Tour’s minimum counting event regulation for the 2023 season, having played in only two counting tournaments – the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the Hero Dubai Desert Classic”. Wiesberger had a lot to say about his decision after being thankful for being given the chance to return.
Wiesberger Reflects on His DP World Tour Return
Wiesberger went on to talk about how he was entirely dedicated to the tour and would be full-fledged and devoted to playing at every event. Also, he added that he was grateful that he never resigned from the tour.
He continued talking, “Included in that will be the traditional national championships that are such a big part of the tour…I look forward to playing in those and, of course, getting started back in Dubai in January. Thank you for your support”
As far as Wiesberger’s suspension is concerned, he cannot make an immediate return, but he said in a statement, “getting started back in Dubai in January”. Probably, his suspension would be served by then. Wiesberger will supposedly return by participating in the Dubai Desert Classic of the tour.
