Ian Poulter has revealed that he wouldn’t consider taking Sergio Garcia’s approach to a potential return to the European Ryder Cup team – namely, paying the fines necessary to allow him to rejoin the DP World Tour and become eligible.
The LIV Golf player gave his opinions in an extensive interview conducted by Sports Illustrated’s Matt Vincenzi. He began by offering his thoughts on the fact that, as things stand, he won’t become Team Europe Ryder Cup captain anytime soon.
He said: “As it stands today I’m currently not a member of the European Tour so I am not eligible to be able to become captain or vice captain, so until that position changes you can only really play the hypothetical game of how I really feel up until that point.”
It was my pleasure to speak with Ian Poulter of @MajesticksGC Full interview here: pic.twitter.com/sfudVfBhjFNovember 25, 2024
He then moved onto the subject of fellow LIV golfer and Ryder Cup legend Garcia, who has rejoined the DP World Tour for the opportunity to be considered for the 2025 match at Bethpage Black.
Poulter is convinced Garcia has what it takes to build on his record as the Ryder Cup’s leading points scorer, but he’s less sure of his chances of making the 12-man team.
“I haven’t spoken to Luke Donald, to be honest,” he explained. “I don’t know if Luke has had any conversations with Sergio at length.
“Obviously, Sergio finished third last year on the Order of Merit in LIV which obviously shows what Sergio’s still capable of but as far as his options within the chances of a) playing his way into contention to be in the top six, to make an automatic pick or how much will he be considered by Luke and what would it take for that to happen.
“I don’t know how many tournaments Sergio is earmarking to play in Europe so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have each had hugely successful Ryder Cup careers
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Poulter, who has made seven Ryder Cup appearances, then questioned the merit of taking Garcia’s lead considering the huge amount of money due to the DP World Tour in fines to even be considered. He added: “My part on that is it’s going to be expensive for Sergio to be eligible to play in that Ryder Cup.
“He would have had a $1m worth of…
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