Matt Jones will not be prevented from defending his 2019 Australian Open title later this year after the DP World Tour revealed LIV Golf players have a temporary green light to contest their co-sanctioned tournaments Down Under.
The DP World Tour (formerly named European Tour) co-sanctions both the Australian Open and PGA Championship and there was some concern that golfers, including Jones, who have joined the Saudi Arabia-funded rival circuit could have been stopped from teeing it up. Both events are also run by the PGA Tour of Australasia.
The DP World Tour had barred Ian Poulter and 15 other players from the recent Scottish Open because they had joined the LIV Golf Invitational series. Sport Resolutions, a UK-based, non-profit global arbitrator, then granted a stay for Poulter and others.
When contacted by Australian Golf Digest on Monday, a DP World Tour spokesperson said that appeal would be extended to Australian events under its umbrella: “Following the stay in the application of sanctions, as things stand, golfers who have participated in LIV Golf events are permitted to play in events on the DP World Tour.”
Jones won his second Australian Open title in 2019, the last time the event was held given the 2020 and 2021 editions had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel.
Jones, also a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, told Australian Golf Digest he welcomed the decision.
“Its good to have some clarity because I earned the right to defend my Australian Open title,” Jones said over the phone. “I look forwarded to trying to win a third Stonehaven Cup in Melbourne later this year.”
Jones, as well as reigning Australian PGA Championship winner Jed Morgan, Wade Ormsby, Travis Smyth, Blake Windred and Kevin Yuan are the Australians who have contested at least one of LIV Golf’s first two events.
Morgan won the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club earlier this year by a record 11 shots. In doing so, he topped the Australasian Order of Merit and gained a DP World Tour card that begins next season.
The Australian Open men’s and women’s tournaments will be played at the same time in a world first. The concurrent Opens will be held from December 1-4 at Victoria Golf Club, while Kingston Heath will also host play on the first two days.
The men’s event will headline the PGA Tour of Australasia while the women’s event will be sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia. The Australian PGA Championship is scheduled to be held the week before at Royal Queensland in Brisbane.
