FIGHT! Eddie Pepperell trades shots with LIV Golf’s Lee Westwood

England’s Eddie Pepperell and Lee Westwood traded blows on social media after the LIV Golf pro found the updated world rankings amusing.

The issue of world rankings has been hotly debated since the rival Saudi-backed league launched last June.

LIV players have fallen below OWGR and lost the majors.

It was argued by traditionalists that LIV players were simply dealing with the consequences of their own actions.

Just one of the many reasons why their LIV entry fees were so astronomically high was because there were so many unknowns.

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Would LIV ever get OWGR accreditation? What about qualifying for a major league? Would established tours ban them? Could these bans be enforced?

Who knows what will happen in the future in light of the “framework agreement” announced on June 6, 2023 between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF of Saudi Arabia.

For now, though, it would be absurd to argue that the world ranking is a little bit confused?

Bryson DeChambeau staked his claim to the Ryder Cup with a record 12-under 58 at The Greenbrier.

Politics aside: Is he really world No. 113?

That’s the point it seems Westwood was trying to make when he saw the updated OWGR after last weekend’s events in men’s professional golf.

He posted a teary-eyed emoji after seeing Lucas Glover climb to No. 30 and Alejandro Tosti climb to No. 99 after winning the Korn Ferry Tour.

Look here:

And here Pepperell chimed in, saying it was “ridiculous” that Westwood, now 50, earns more than three times the UK’s average annual wage in a week, regardless of his rating.

The two then fell out, with Westwood bringing up a private meeting between DP World Tour members and chief executive Keith Pelley at last year’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club amid furor over LIV Golf.

One golf fan kicked off the fiery exchange, writing it was a shame Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia “destroyed their legacies for money” and claimed they would never be celebrated as the greats they once were.

DP World Tour player Eddie Pepperell has described Sergio Garcia’s retirement from the BMW PGA Championship as ‘passion’ speaking to @StripeShowPod

“It was pathetic and he’s been heavily criticized for it, I would add to those voices.” pic.twitter.com/4F4S7W6wOz

— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) October 18, 2022

Pepperell responded to this by saying that he will always remember the Ryder Cup legends for their games first, but stated that LIV Golf has facilitated “a big change in direction in golf and not in a positive way IMO”.

Westwood disputed this remark, describing it as “a load of s—” and claimed to have seen Pepperell sitting in the aforementioned meeting with Pelley, “bowing your head like a nodding donkey while KP took out the politician /chief of. —-!’

For his part, Pepperell wrote that he was not shaking his head, but was shaking it “with the disappointment I felt that you had not more armoury.”

Watch the entire exchange here:

Australian Tour pro Scott Hend also attended, writing about the meeting:

“The most disappointing thing about Eddie was that the questions that were asked in private were not answered, and those that were answered turned out to be somewhat of a stretch of the truth… I can’t believe that you can honestly sit there and defend the people who are conducting the DPWORLD Tour.”

Pepperell added one final takeaway, saying professional golf has “relegated to being all about the money.”

“Maybe it always has been and I’m just naive,” he added.

He wrote that professional golf would be in a “better place” if the likes of Westwood stuck instead of twisting.

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