Graeme McDowell wants Ryder Cup eligibility for LIV’s European players

DUBAI – The DP World Tour would look “foolish” if European players from the LIV Golf circuit are not considered for the Ryder Cup as their American counterparts remain eligible, former US Open champion Graeme McDowell said.

Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, who have played 28 Ryder Cups between them and are with the LIV Series,

are ineligible for this year’s edition of the biennial competition

after resigning from the DP World Tour in May.

However, American players who joined the LIV circuit can still qualify for the US team given they are members of the PGA of America.

“To ignore LIV because of politics when the US have those players in their side doesn’t make any sense,” former Europe vice-captain McDowell, who plays for the Saudi-backed circuit, told the BBC.

“It makes Europe’s Tour look foolish. I hope that if one of the European players at LIV puts in a summer deserving of a spot on the Ryder Cup side that the landscape would be available for that to happen.”

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV circuit, which had been involved in a bitter fight that split the sport,

announced an agreement in early June to merge

and form a unified commercial entity.

Northern Ireland’s McDowell, who was on the winning team in three of his four Ryder Cup appearances, also called for Europe’s all-time record points scorer Garcia (28.5 points) to be reinstated.

“Sergio Garcia is probably the lead guy right now and the European team room would be better with a Sergio Garcia in it,” he said.

“I read the stuff with

him and Rory McIlroy (resolving their differences)

and I’m super happy that those guys have moved on from stuff that shouldn’t have come between them – politics and business.

“I’d love to see them walking down a fairway in Rome, winning a foursomes match together. That’s what every European Ryder Cup fan wants.”

Also wanting to put out a winning team is United States captain Zach Johnson, who is trying to make sure that any ties between LIV Golf and other circuits, including the PGA Tour, do not get in his way.

Johnson said on Wednesday that he and the Ryder Cup committee already determined how they wanted to navigate the treacherous landscape.

“What’s transpiring in professional golf from a competitive level, competition level, is PGA Tour right?” Johnson said.

“It’s not PGA of America. So the individuals that are Americans that play on other Tours that are not the PGA Tour, they could play, I mean, technically the Latin Tour or the Asian Tour or wherever.

“More times than not they’re going to be members of the PGA of America for a number of reasons. Our liability insurance is No. 1 and some other benefits.”

Although he did not outwardly come out and say that LIV Golf members were welcome on Team USA, Johnson made it clear that nothing was barring them from securing a spot on the squad.

“These guys that left the PGA Tour... they’re still members of the PGA of America, so they are still able to garner points,” he said.

“They’re able to play in the PGA Championship as a result because that’s what the PGA of America runs. Obviously, technically, can still be a part of Team USA.”

Brooks Koepka, who is ranked 12th in the world and won the 2023 PGA Championship after finishing tied-second at the Masters, is among those competing on the LIV circuit that Johnson has his eye on.

“The Tuesday after the Tour Championship is when I make the picks,” he said.

“We’ll formulate 12 by then, but he has worked his way – he worked his way to second after the PGA Championship because of how well he played at the Masters and at the PGA Championship.

“The Majors kind of last year too, but they were smaller in points... He has a really good chance of making the team, earning his way on the team, which is extremely impressive.”

The Ryder Cup runs from Sept 29 to Oct 1 at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome.
REUTERS