Make no bones about it, professional golf is embroiled in a civil war that threatens to change the very landscape of the game for years to come, especially if LIV Golf ringleader Greg Norman gets his way.
What started off as a few ageing tour pros defecting to the controversial tour to set up substantial retirement funds has now created full on chaos with a number of the sport’s biggest names heading to the 54-hole series.
From lawsuits to sportwashing and everything else in between, the breakaway tour has divided the players. The likes of Rory Mcilroy, who said “common sense prevailed” following the recent PGA Tour legal win that meant Matt Jones, Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford – who all jumped ship to LIV – couldn’t play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, has become even more highly regarded amongst his fellow peers.
While the PGA and DP World Tours both appear to be fighting a battle that has seemingly steered interest away from the tournaments and plunged many into the political aspect of the sport, it could be the Ryder Cup that suffers with the long-term ramifications of this sideshow.
Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia all looked nailed on to be future European Ryder Cup captains. When all four signed up for LIV, it threw the contingency plan into turmoil. With Henrik Stenson having been stripped of his captaincy after joining the rebel tour it begged the question, who next?
The answer was Luke Donald, who in some regards is a very astute pick. The 44-year-old was never on the losing side as a player and with his cool and relaxed demeanour best suited to his American counterpart in Zach Johnson, Rome 2023 promises to be another excellent event. What happens beyond then from a European perspective, however? I have racked my brain and came up with an alternative contingency plan that might, just might, stabilise team Europe for the foreseeable future.
Justin Rose – 2025
(Image credit: Getty Images)
By the time of the 2025 edition, Rose will be 45. With the average age of the previous ten captains being 48, it is clear that the…
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