European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has dealt a huge blow to LIV Golf stars Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood after hinting at forming a new-look team.
It still remains to be seen as to whether players who joined the breakaway series will be able to compete in Rome next year. The LIV roster includes a number of big Ryder Cup names, most notably Poulter, Westwood and Garcia who have been pivotal to Europe's success in the 2000's and 2010's.
Whilst the European stalwarts are closer to the end of their careers' than the start, they are no doubt still keen to compete in blue and gold. Whether it comes down to Donald remains to be seen, as LIV players could be barred from competing before it gets to the captain's selection time.
However, even if the defectors are eligible they may still not even be in the Englishman's plans. The DP World Tour has introduced the Hero Cup for 2023 which will see Great Britain and Ireland take on the rest of Europe in order to stack players' match play golf experience ahead of their hosting duties in Rome.
And Donald believes this will prove the perfect opportunity to feed some new blood into his Ryder Cup team. Speaking on the Five Clubs show with Gary Williams, he said about his plans: "You can get a little bit of an idea from the Hero Cup that’s coming up.
"First of all it’s a great opportunity to get some younger guys into the team room, playing together and seeing how they bond. This is an important step to bring a matchplay event back to the European schedule.
"There are some great young players. I’m very excited about some of the core players who have started playing well again but there’s a new generation of players who are hungry to make that Ryder Cup."
Europe were blown away just over 12 months ago by their American rivals in Wisconsin, losing 19-9 to Steve Stricker's team - the heaviest defeat in the event's modern history. The key to their success was the introduction of a number of new young stars.
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And Donald is hoping he can do the same thing with his team in 2023, and usher out the likes of Poulter and co. He went on: "The US team have had a shift where they have gone with younger players with less scar tissue; guys that seem to get on very well. Europe is starting to go through a similar shift.
"A lot of the guys who have been stalwarts are coming towards the end of their careers. I’m not saying they don’t have opportunities to make further Ryder Cups, but it’s becoming less and less likely so we need some of these younger guys to step up and fill some of those holes.”
