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Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald set the record straight on why there were no members of LIV Golf in the biennial event.
Team Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, Luke Donald, will make his first PGA Tour start since the Wyndham Championship last August at the WM Phoenix Open this week.
Ahead of the tournament, Donald answered a number of questions. But the topic that garnered the most attention pertained to LIV Golf and the Ryder Cup.
Donald took it upon himself to set the record straight and correct Rory McIlroy.
“He [McIlroy] was a little inaccurate in terms of changing the rules for Jon to be a part of it because, currently, you have to be European and be a member of the DP World Tour,” Donald said. “Jon and Tyrrell [Hatton], as far as I know, are still members of the European Tour and would be eligible. Nothing has changed there.”
Following the shocking news of Jon Rahm leaving the PGA Tour for LIV, McIlroy famously said rules needed to be changed to let members of LIV play in the Ryder Cup.
Donald expanded upon the sentiment of LIV members’ eligibility.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America/PGA of America via Getty Images
“Going back to last year, there were a couple of guys playing on LIV that maintained their membership, and I kept an eye on everyone that was eligible for me to pick,” he said. “The guys that decided to resign their membership, at that point, I couldn’t pick them, but at this moment, those are the rules.”
He mentioned that Rahm and Hatton still likely want to be a part of the team, so hopefully, they will remain a consideration.
Donald also didn’t shut down the question of LIV golfers taking the role as Ryder Cup assistant captains.
He has already named Edoardo Molinari an assistant captain for 2025, but there are still spots available for possibly one or more members of LIV Golf.
“It’s always a possibility. I do think the vice captains that I had in place last year were very much in touch with a lot of the players that were eligible,” Donald said. “Again, the Sergios [Garcia], the Lees [Westwood], the Ians [Poulter], those guys have a legacy and a history and part of the Ryder Cup.”
He acknowledged that it could be hard to gauge because vice captains have to have good relationships with the players.
“We didn’t have anyone on LIV in the 2023 Ryder Cup, so we’ll have to see whether those relationships are good enough,” he said.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
