Matt Fitzpatrick has revealed he was ‘livid’ to learn that some PGA Tour stars had been invited to play at the DP World Tour’s flagship event last month. The likes of Si Woo Kim, Peter Malnati and Mark Hubbard all participated in the BMW PGA Championship, infuriating Fitzpatrick.
The Englishman was left angry after learning that a few of the DP World Tour card holders had been affected by the presence of PGA Tour players. Fitzpatrick pointed out that the PGA Tour does not invite DP World Tour players to play at its Players Championship tournament.
Since an agreement was struck in 2020, the PGA Tour has taken DP World Tour’s top 10 players at the end of each season. Fitzpatrick is not comfortable with the deal, which is seen as a strategic alliance.
“I don’t think the [DP World] Tour should have gone with the PGA Tour,” the 30-year-old said.
“I was pretty livid to be honest at Wentworth when I found out that there was a handful of PGA Tour players coming to play Wentworth, and at that point in time, not every person who kept their card last year got in the field, which I think is a disgrace. That’s the flagship event.
“There’s no invites given to European Tour players at The Players Championship. So why are we dishing them out for Wentworth? I thought that was absolutely absurd that that even went through.
“Now I’m sat here as, now mainly, a PGA Tour player nowadays, which people probably say, well, you don’t come back and play anyway. Yeah, I understand that, but I think the way of looking at it is, there’s not really been left with any option.
“If you want to achieve the things that you want to achieve in the game, you’ve got to play against the best players. You have to play where the best world ranking points are, and unfortunately with that, the money follows that.
“So obviously everyone is going to go down that route but if you want to be the best player you’re going to be, that’s the way you’re going to go.”
Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick admitted he is “beyond the point of caring” about any agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF-funded LIV Golf Tour. It was announced last year that the two parties had a “framework agreement” in place to merge business entities, but no further deal has been reached.
