Ian Poulter has responded to Jon Rahm's support for Ryder Cup legend Sergio Garcia by saying the World No.2 is "the only person who gets it" as the European side looks to be without LIV Golfers.
"it’s just golf.. politics aside it’s just golf," Poulter wrote on Twitter in reply to a video of Rahm speaking ahead of the Memorial Tournament.
The only person who gets it.. @JonRahmpga … it’s just golf.. politics aside it’s just golf. https://t.co/rcOCOmWGd6May 30, 2023
Rahm was passionate in voicing how he'll miss Sergio Garcia in Rome this year and remained adamant that Team Europe should be made up of the 12 best players regardless of which tour they play on.
“I'm going to miss him. We had a great partnership at Whistling Straits," Rahm said of his fellow Spaniard, who last week said that Luke Donald essentially told him he had no chance of making the team.
"I'm going to mention history again one more time. A Spanish duo in the Ryder Cup I think to me is embedded into the roots of the Ryder Cup. Look with Seve and Ollie were able to do throughout their partnership, right. So it's a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event.
“It's the best Europeans against the best Americans, period. 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.”
“I was excited about the possibility of playing with Jon again, and I know that Jon was also excited about that possibility, too," Garcia said last week. "Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, at least for now.”
Garcia, Poulter, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Richard Bland have all resigned their DP World Tour memberships so will not be featuring in any future Ryder Cups as things stand. The resignations came after the DP World Tour won February's arbitration panel hearing against its members who played in LIV tournaments despite not having conflicting event releases signed off by the tour.
It means that the DP World Tour is able to fine and suspend players for going against declined releases, meaning that LIV players would face huge fines and suspensions for continuing to play on the Saudi-backed tour while remaining members of the European circuit.
