Rory McIlroy says the likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia will miss not being involved in the Ryder Cup more than the European team will miss them.
The moment the line slipped out of McIlroy’s mouth you could sense that he knew it’d be a headline, but it was a question that needed answering ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.
Westwood, Poulter and Garcia, three of Europe’s Ryder Cup stalwarts, will not be in Rome as a consequence of them joining LIV Golf.
And that’s without mentioning Henrik Stenson, who would have been leading Europe out as captain had he not decided to leave the DP World Tour and play in the lucrative 54-hole team golf event.
It’s now Luke Donald who will have that honour, and although it’s a lot of experience to lose, including the event’s all-time top points scorer Garcia, McIlroy believes they will cope.
The Northern Irishman was keen to insist it was not a dig, but when asked if Europe would miss those big names, he felt they were the ones who would really feel the sense of missing out this week.
“I mean, it’s certainly a little strange not having them around,” said McIlroy at Marco Simone Golf Club.
“But I think this week of all weeks, it’s going to hit home with them that, you know, they are not here, and I think they are going to miss being here more than we’re missing them.
“It’s just more I think this week is a realisation that the decision that they made has led to not being a part of this week, and that’s tough.”
Those veterans were unlikely to make the team anyway, but they’d almost certainly be involved behind the scenes and as future captains and vice-captains, something that may still happen as golf navigates the big PGA Tour deal with the Saudi PIF.
“The landscape in golf is ever-changing and more dynamic, and we’ll see what happens and whether they will be part of it in the future,” McIlroy added.
“I always thought leading up to this week is when it’s going to hit home that they are not going to be here.”
Rookies are the Ryder Cup future
With McIlroy now a senior statesman in the European team after the likes of Westwood, Poulter and Garcia have gone, he points to rookies Nicolai Hojgaard, Ludvig Aberg and…
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