Ian Poulter has hailed his former Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm, after criticising the 'politics' within professional golf following the ongoing dispute surrounding LIV Golf.
Poulter made the controversial decision to join LIV last summer, and despite reaping the financial reward, it has come at a cost. As a result, the Englishman - alongside fellow European stalwarts Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood - was forced to resign from the DP World Tour last month due to his LIV allegiances.
This has all but ended the Englishman's Ryder Cup career, despite announcing himself as one of the competition's most coveted players in recent years.
Between them, Poulter, Garcia and Westwood have made 28 Ryder Cup appearances and proved pivotal to Europe's success over the past two decades. The trio were also shoe-ins to become future team captains, but their membership resignation has put an end to this.
One man who is sad to see the back of Garcia in particular is his fellow Spaniard and former Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm. Slamming the politics surrounding the Saudi-backed series, Rahm said: "I’m going to miss him... We had a great partnership at Whistling Straits... So it’s a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event."
Rahm himself has seemingly stayed neutral in the ongoing feud between LIV and the DP World and PGA Tour, despite his Tour loyalties. And his latest stance has been hailed by one of his former European teammates in Poulter.
Taking to Twitter, the Englishman wrote: "The only person who gets it.. @JonRahmpga… it’s just golf.. politics aside it’s just golf." LIV star Garcia is the most succesful Ryder Cup points scorer in the competition's history, and the idea that he will no longer be included in the European setup is hard to take for Rahm.
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"Again, it’s the best Europeans against the best American, period," the Masters champion went on. "And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn’t matter. It’s whoever is best suited to represent the European side.
"And I have a hard time to believe that the best player Europe has ever had, the most successful player Europe has had on the Ryder Cup isn’t fit to be on the team. So, it’s unfortunate. I will miss him. But with that said I want to be hopeful, there’s a couple of Spanish guys playing really good right now, so hopefully they can join me on the team.”
