Westwood, Poulter silent on Saudi tour

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter didn't want to talk about the PGA Tour's decision to deny releases to members who asked to play in new Saudi-funded tournaments next month in England.

Tour loyalists were happy to weigh in at the Byron Nelson on Wednesday, the day before the Dallas-area event. Their theme: more power to anyone who wants to join Greg Norman's latest bid to create a lucrative rival league.

"Look, if you want to go, go," said Justin Thomas, the eighth-ranked player in the world. "There are plenty of guys that have been advocates of it and have just talked it up all the time and they have been guys behind the scenes that are saying, 'I'm going, I'm doing this.'

"And, like, my whole thing is, like, just go then," Thomas said. "Stop going back and forth. Everybody's entitled to do what they want."

Westwood, who has confirmed seeking releases from the PGA and European tours, told a reporter he didn't want to answer questions on the topic.

Poulter is among those identified by The Daily Telegraph as seeking releases. He hopped in a golf cart after his Nelson pro-am round and said he had to be somewhere.

The first LIV Golf Invitational is scheduled for June 9-11 at Centurion Golf Club outside of London, with a 48-man field competing for a $20 million purse over 54 holes. The winner gets $4 million－to date the richest prize in golf－and last place gets $120,000.

AP