Ros Atkins on… Saudi Arabia’s $2 billion golf series
The players on the LIV Golf series can have no arguments against DP World Tour bans, believes Richie Ramsay.
LIV players have threatened legal action after being fined and sanctioned for leaving the DP World Tour.
But Scotland's Ramsay agreed with Padraig Harrington, who said most DP World Tour players believe the sanctions imposed on those who joined the series are too lenient.
"If you care so much about the tour, why are you suing it?" Ramsay said.
The DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, banned players who competed in the first LIV event from next week's Scottish Open and fined them each £100,000.
On Friday, chief executive Keith Pelley said the players who joined the Saudi-backed breakaway series "knew there would be consequences if they chose money over competition".
The emergence of the LIV series has dominated the sport in recent months, with Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell among top names to join up.
"I just find it difficult to get my head around," Ramsay told BBC Scotland. "I don't hold a grudge against the guys that went away, but I don't think you could argue any evidence that they shouldn't get banned. I thought the ban was light.
"It's not what golf is about. Golf has a lot of unwritten rules and a lot of etiquette and I think a lot of people are slinging mud at the moment."
A decision on whether LIV players can compete in future Ryder Cups has yet to be made, with former captain Harrington earlier this week admitting to being concerned about the future of the tournament and golf's image amid the controversy.
Ramsay added: "I played in the Saudi international and there was obviously still a lot of issues that are around today. My job was to go out and play there, so I went out and played it.
"If the guys want to go and play it, particularly if you're older and coming to the end of your career, I don't begrudge them that one bit, I don't mind that.
"But to turn around and sue the tour and feel like you're shocked they're banning you, I find quite unhealthy. To think you can go away and do something else and there won't be a consequence to it, I find that really funny.
"If you're suing the tour, it's going to affect us so much as players in the long run."
'Just respect the game of golf'
Fellow Scottish golfer Bob McIntyre, one of two home players set to play in the Open at St Andrew's later this month, said there has been "too much talk".
"If you're going to do it, go and do it," he said. "I've got nothing against people going to do it.
"They know why they're going to do it. Go and enjoy it.
"I was getting annoyed with everything, there was too much talk. The guys that are out there can play in the Open and that's fine, come and play, but just respect the game of golf."
