Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia are among four players with Saudi-backed Live Golf who quit the European Tour rather than face £100,000 ($125,000) fines for playing Live events without permission.
The tour said 50-year-old Richard Bland had also resigned.
They were among those who played the inaugural LIV Golf event outside London last June and breached the tournament’s conflicting policy.
In a statement, the Tour thanked the four players for their contributions – particularly Westwood, Garcia and Poulter for their roles in Europe’s domination of the Ryder Cup.
“But their resignations and the penalties imposed on them are the result of their choices,” the tour said.
The decision stems from the ruling by Sport Resolutions last month that a number of players committed serious breaches of the European Tour’s Code of Conduct by playing at LIV Golf events last year.
The ruling allowed the tour to impose a fine of 100 thousand pounds. Instead of paying the fine, all four players chose to quit.
This would likely mark the end of Garcia’s record run through the Ryder Cup, which dates back to 1999 when he was 19. The Spaniard holds the Ryder Cup record for most games won (25) and most points contributed (28 1/2) in nine games. .
Poulter is best known for his ‘postman’ performance at Medina in 2012 when he made five consecutive birdies in a four-ball match with Rory McIlroy, the spark that carried Europe to the greatest comeback by a visiting team.
Westwood has spent three decades on the European Tour and has remained loyal in the wake of many stars joining the PGA Tour. He has a career-high 25 wins on what is now the DP World Tour commercial, won the points title three times and reached No. 1 in the world at the end of 2010. He has made 11 Ryder Cup appearances more than a European.
Westwood told The Daily Telegraph it was a “sad day”.
“I couldn’t see any other option with all the penalties hanging over me,” Westwood said, adding that he disagreed with European Tour CEO Keith Bailey and the Tour Council’s direction “and I want to move on.”
Bland has one win on the European Tour.
Other European players, such as Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and Bernd Wiesberger, will need to pay the fine if they want to stay on tour.
McDowell has only played the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth since joining LIV, and Wiesberger has played the Middle East swing while European Tour penalties remain on appeal.
“As we have consistently maintained throughout the past year, the Tour has a responsibility to its entire members to manage the member lists that each player signs for,” the tour statement said. “These regulations are designed to protect the collective interests of all DP World Tour members.”
The Tour said an update on the other sanctioned players would be provided on Thursday. The round is at the Italian Open this week at Marco Simone, the stadium that will host the Ryder Cup later this year.