Paul McGinley has been tied to European golf for most of his career, first as a Ryder Cup player, then as a captain who led Europe to victory at Gleneagles in 2014. He is still one of the game’s most prominent voices on how its tours are run, and the DP World Tour’s fortunes rarely sit far from his analysis.

That connection is why he claimed that the DP World Tour has lost tens of millions of dollars to LIV Golf. He continued making that case in a long thread of replies on X. Notably, his post came hours after the tour confirmed that players planning to play in LIV in 2027 will not be accepted into membership.

“The DPWT has LOST tens of millions directly to LIV in sponsorship/events/venues. They also have a right to compete for business—LIV & PGAT did. All players have benefitted from LIV at a price to sustainable business models—common sense needed, not more false economies.”

McGinley’s claim has a long history behind it, and it does not begin as a fight. The Saudi International was an official European Tour event from 2019 to 2021. In 2022, the tour weighed a Saudi-funded proposal before choosing its strategic alliance with the PGA Tour. So the first approaches were about cooperation, not rivalry.

That changed when LIV launched. Its first event was played at Centurion Club in June 2022, about 40 minutes from the Tour’s Wentworth base. It was also staged alongside the Asian Tour, which LIV had backed with $300 million.

The venue losses came next. Valderrama, for example, had been a regular stop on the tour since 1988 and hosted the Volvo Masters and Andalucia Masters. LIV signed the Spanish course in winter 2022 on a deal covering five events over seven years.

Ben Cowen, the DP World Tour’s chief tournament and operations officer, told Golf Digest that the past five years had felt like a constant battle, referring to the period when LIV 1.0 was active. He said LIV went after their events, venues, and sponsors on the schedule, adding that it was a competitor and a threat.

According to McGinley, this is not a new argument. The former Ryder Cup captain, who holds degrees in marketing and business, told the Irish Times in April that LIV “never made commercial sense to him.” He also said LIV took sponsors away from the tour and left it tens of millions of dollars down.

His comments have drawn attention on X, where his post has received over 45K views and prompted numerous replies, which he has gone on to answer one by one.

One fan commented that the Tour could have avoided the losses by aligning with LIV instead of becoming a feeder tour to the PGA Tour.

“The DPWT could have prevented those lost millions by aligning with LIV rather than becoming an official feeder tour to the PGA Tour… The same can be said for DPWT leadership when they hitched their wagon to the PGA Tour and tried to close off the landscape to LIV Golf…Petty politics and pissing about.”

McGinley responded, saying LIV had never made an offer compelling enough to risk alienating the PGA Tour and corporate America, before adding,

“Board members have a duty and responsibility to minimize risk for its stakeholders.”

Another user asked why the Tour could not work with LIV the way it works with the PGA Tour. They also warned that any shortfall in the strategic alliance would put the Tour at even greater risk.

McGinley replied that “LIV will continue to be a hostile competitive business operating against DPWT in the marketplace.”

He also argued that the playing field had changed now that LIV no longer had state funding. The PIF pulled its backing, and LIV filed for Chapter 11 in September. BC Partners has outlined up to $300 million for a 10-event relaunch, although the precise terms and status of that funding remain important to the league’s future. Concerns about the alliance remain, too.

Another user questioned McGinley’s priorities, saying,
“Come on, Paul. Don’t become a PGAT groupie. Don’t you want the best players in the world playing around the world, not just in America?”

McGinley replied, “Yes, I do. How do we do that? The economics don’t add up to what Americans can produce. Players make so much now that, unlike in days gone by, they don’t financially need or want to travel.”

The prize-money figures illustrate the gap, too. The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth offered $9 million in prize money this year, compared with $20 million at PGA Tour Signature Events and $30 million at LIV events.

Last but not least, one user said the DP World Tour’s problems predated LIV, writing, “DPWT had problems with sponsors, venues, and events long before LIV came along. The tour’s biggest mistake has been putting PGAT interests ahead of its own. And it’s still doing it.”

McGinley’s reply was the bluntest in the thread.

“The DPWT business model is around 1/20 of PGAT—please tell me how to compete toe-to-toe with that. Players will obviously follow the money. When our RC players do come back and we do have amazing fields & events like Wentworth, what’s our prize money? Hint: it’s not $20 mill,” he tweeted.

The commentator’s point had some backing, as a 2022 industry report found that the Tour had recorded only one profitable year in three.

The financial gap McGinley describes helps explain why the Tour is hardening its stance on players planning to join LIV in 2027.