Lee Westwood blasts reporter for ‘inaccuracies’ amid Senior Open Championship ban

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Lee Westwood called out the Telegraph reporter citing ‘inaccuracies’ on his fees and why he is banned from the Senior Open Championship.

After the news broke that Lee Westwood could not play in the Senior Open Championship, the former No. 1 player called out the Telegraph author for ‘inaccuracies’ in an article that no longer exists.

He decided to call out James Corrigan on Twitter in a pretty public manner, which caused James Corrigan to quickly make some changes.

Westwood blasted Corrigan, saying much of his reporting was incorrect.

“Good article James. Couple of inaccuracies. One being the size of the fines should i ever wish to join the DP World Tour again. Which I don’t, so I don’t have any outstanding fines,” Westwood tweeted. “I’m not sure which fines the email relates to? It’s puzzling?”

Initially, Corrigan reported that Westwood had just over $400,000 in unpaid fines from playing in multiple LIV Golf events. However, the updated version suggests it was closer to $1,026,444 on top of the $128,312 initial payment he had already made.

Kieth Pelly, the DP World Tour chief executive, isn’t letting up on allowing LIV Golf players to return to their events. He insists these players settle those fines, and with the July 6 deadline quickly approaching, Westwood won’t be paying that hefty fine.

Those unpaid fines are why his application to get into the Senior Open Championship got rejected, per Corrigan’s Telegraph article, but Westwood cleared the air about the whole situation.

“The Senior Open has said I have to pay ‘outstanding fines,’ but I don’t ‘have to’ as I’ve resigned my membership of the Tour, and I don’t intend rejoining,” Westwood said to the Telegraph. “I’m puzzled. I didn’t know you have to be a member of European Tour to play in the Senior Open. It is not very ‘open’ if that’s so, is it?”

Unlike the Open Championship, which is solely run by the R&A, the Senior Open is run jointly by the R&A and the DP World Tour.