Paul McGinley says "it's sad" that Ian Poulter will probably never captain Europe at the Ryder Cup after moving to LIV Golf.
Poulter is synonymous with the Ryder Cup, playing for Europe seven times and winning five Ryder Cups. His most iconic appearance came at Medinah in 2012, where he birdied the final five holes on Saturday afternoon to win a crucial point alongside Rory McIlroy and give Jose Maria Olazabal's side momentum heading into the incredible 10-6 comeback on the final day.
The Englishman, who has never lost a singles match at the Ryder Cup, looked odds-on to be Europe's captain at the highly anticipated 2025 match at Bethpage Black until his move to the Saudi-backed start-up.
McGinley, Europe's 2014 winning captain at Gleneagles, told the Mail on Sunday that it's "sad" that Poulter is "probably" never going to be captain and also said that LIV players have "removed themselves" from the biennial match due to LIV financially "harming" the DP World Tour.
"Next to Seve, he’s probably been the most influential player from a European perspective in Ryder Cups," McGinley said on Ian Poulter.
"It’s phenomenal what he’s done for us. And it’s sad that he’s probably not going to be a captain, or certainly not in the foreseeable future. Everybody had him down to be captain in New York.
"I’m not going to close the door to that, but it’s odds-against now. There’s consequences with big decisions. And these are big decisions. The Ryder Cup is partly owned by the European Tour.
"These guys are involved in an entity that is now harming the European Tour, financially. So, unfortunately, they’ve removed themselves from the Ryder Cup, as far as I’m concerned."
Poulter recently said "shame on them [Ryder Cup Europe]" if LIV players were not allowed to be captains despite years of supporting the European-based circuit.
"And if the DP World Tour chose to not have any LIV golfer as captain after they have supported them and still do for over 25 years then shame on them," Poulter said in an Instagram Q&A. "Sad but that's on them. Time will tell and once all the info is out things will change I'm sure."
In his Netflix Full Swing episode, he also said it would be "devastating" to not be captain. "There's so many deciding factors in all of this," he said in episode 3 of the eight-part docuseries.
"I love the Ryder Cup and if one day I get the opportunity to become Ryder Cup captain I would absolutely love it. If you do play for LIV, would it be a factor in not being able to be a captain down the road? It would be devastating if it was taken away, that would be really disappointing.”
In Paul McGinley's wide-ranging interview with the Mail on Sunday, where the Irishman was speaking to promote the Legends Tour, he also admitted that he might have joined LIV in his playing days due to the financial lure.
"You know, in all probability, I may well have gone to LIV at 46, 47 years of age,’ McGinley said.
"If I’m offered $20, $30 million to go and play in a rival league, I’d have done it. But I wouldn’t have done the LIV Tour then come back and played the European Tour as well. I think that’s greedy.
"You can’t be on both buses. As great as those players were from Ryder Cups, and as great as they have been for European Tour and, you know, they’re personal friends of mine, I have a disagreement with them."
