Former Team Europe captain Paul McGinley says repercussions were inevitable after a whole host of the continent's biggest names opted to resign from the DP World Tour, and give up their Ryder Cup eligibility due to their LIV Golf allegiances.
The iconic European trio of Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood opted to give up their DP World Tour memberships last month after being fined by the Tour for competing in LIV Golf events. In a bid to avoid further sanctions, all three called time on their Tour careers.
Sadly for Poulter, Garcia, Westwood and some European golf fans, all three will no longer be able to compete at this year's Ryder Cup, or captain the team at future events, despite all being shoe-ins for the role just over 12 months ago.
Speaking just after the decision, Europe's most capped Ryder Cup player Westwood revealed his 'sadness', telling the Telegraph : "I’ve had amazing times, including all those Ryder Cups... I wouldn’t change those years for the world and feel I made a contribution to the tour...
"So no, I never would have believed it had ended like this and there has to be a bit of sadness, of course.” Just last week, European talisman Poulter hit out the 'politics' surrounding their resignation, after Europe's No. 1 golfer Jon Rahm claimed he would miss fellow Spaniard and LIV star Garcia in Rome later this year.
One name who lacked sympathy though is a man who captained all three to Ryder Cup success in 2014, McGinley. Discussing the sanctions put in place against LIV Golf players from the DP World Tour, he told Irish Golfer : "It was very, very simple in my eyes.
"You’re leaving to start a rival competitive tour to the one you’re already on, and if you do that, there’ll be repercussions. Why can’t we enforce rules to say, ‘guys, you were great when you were part of the DP World Tour, you’re now a competitor of ours and we’re going to treat you as such’.”
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McGinley has found himself embroiled in the saga, after deciding to resign from the DP World Tour board due to his continued work in the media. The Sky Sports pundit claimed he did not want to be accused as a 'mouthpiece' for the Tour whilst carrying out his media duties. "I enjoyed being on the board and it’s regrettable that I had to come off it," the Irishman added.
"It’s an important time for the board and I’m aware they didn’t want to lose me, but I didn’t want to be labelled a mouthpiece for the European Tour when I’m working in the media. I don’t want that accusation levelled at me, so I won’t be on the board. But you know what? My views are still the same.”
