When it comes to the Ryder Cup, there are few European golfers with more respect than Paul McGinley.
The Irish golfer famously nailed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole at the 2002 Ryder Cup to win the trophy for Europe. He was also the captain of Europe at the 2014 Ryder Cup, which they won, and the first Irishman to captain Europe’s team.
So when he had something to say about the Ryder Cup and how it should work, people tend to listen. And McGinley has a lot to say about those who joined LIV Golf and whether or not they deserve to be able to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup.
“You know, in all probability, I may well have gone to LIV at 46, 47 years of age,’ McGinley admitted in an interview with The Daily Mail. “If I’m offered $20, $30 million to go and play in a rival league, I’d have done it.
“But I wouldn’t have done the LIV Tour then come back and played the European Tour as well. I think that’s greedy. You can’t be on both buses. As great as those players were from Ryder Cups, and as great as they have been for European Tour and, you know, they’re personal friends of mine, I have a disagreement with them.”
McGinley is mostly directing his ire at players like Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, both of whom joined LIV and recently lost a legal case that would have allowed them to compete on Europe’s DP World Tour at will.
McGinley specifically mentioned Poulter in terms of how the decision impacts his ability to captain a Ryder Cup team.
“Next to Seve [Ballesteros], [Poulter’s] probably been the most influential player from a European perspective in Ryder Cups. It’s phenomenal what he’s done for us. And it’s sad that he’s probably not going to be a captain, or certainly not in the foreseeable future. Everybody had him down to be captain in New York.
“I’m not going to close the door to that, but it’s odds-against now. There’s consequences with big decisions. And these are big decisions. The Ryder Cup is partly owned by the European tour.
“These guys are involved in an entity that is now harming the European tour, financially. So, unfortunately, they’ve removed themselves from the Ryder Cup, as far as I’m concerned.”
The 2023 Ryder Cup will take place at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio near Rome.
[Daily Mail]
