sport news Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and fellow LIV rebels 'are still INELIGIBLE for ... trends now

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Despite the bombshell merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, nine golfers who resigned their DP World Tour memberships to join the Saudi-backed league will remain ineligible for the Ryder Cup later this year.

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV stunningly ended their bitter two-year dispute and announced an agreement to merge and form one unified commercial entity.

However, the process for LIV defectors to be reinstated won't begin until after the 2023 season is complete, meaning high-profile names such as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter will have to wait to return to the Ryder Cup.

'There have been several suggestions that with the joint commitment to end further litigation between the parties, this also means our sanctions against players who broke our Regulations will be waived,' DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley wrote in a memo to players obtained by ESPN on Wednesday. 

'That is not the case. The suspensions and fines previously imposed remain effective.'

A ruling by the Sport Resolutions panel in April found that the World Tour was within its rights to ban players such as Garcia, Westwood and Poulter from the Ryder Cup for participating in the Saudi-funded league.

Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Richard Bland, Martin Kaymer, Dean Burmester and Abraham Ancer also resigned from the DP World Tour and will therefore remain ineligible for this year's Ryder Cup.

The tournament is scheduled for September 29 to October 1 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside Rome.

According to the memo Pelley wrote, players who resigned and wanted reinstatement needed to notify the DP World Tour by May 1, but none of them did so.

While the merger ends the ongoing litigation between the PGA and LIV, that doesn't mean that tensions will be over in the sport.