DUBLIN, Ohio — Rory McIlroy plays his shot from the fifth tee during the Golden Bear Pro-Am prior to the Memorial Tournament on May 31, 2023. | Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
McIlroy provided his opinion about LIV Golfers playing in the Ryder Cup in his pre-tournament press conference at the Memorial.
For more than a year now, Rory McIlroy has continually expressed his dismay with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.
Surprisingly, McIlroy did not delve much into this subject before the PGA Championship.
But since Brooks Koepka won at Oak Hill, the first LIV golfer to win a major, the entire golfing world has debated whether or not players on the LIV Tour should participate in the Ryder Cup.
Scottie Scheffler weighed in on this discussion.
Jon Rahm did, too, as both of these players agree that LIV players have the right to participate in the bi-annual competition should they qualify or if selected as a captain’s pick.
McIlroy, however, disagrees. He dove back into this debate at the Memorial:
“I have different feelings about the European team and sort of how that has all transpired,” McIlroy noted. “I don’t think any of those guys should be a part of the European team.”
Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, and Bernd Wiesberger represented the European side at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin for the 2021 Ryder Cup.
These five players now tee it up for the LIV Tour, and McIlroy feels that none of them should play for Team Europe.
Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
AUCHTERARDER, Scotland — (L-R) Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter of Europe celebrate winning the Ryder Cup after the Singles Matches of the 2014 Ryder Cup on the PGA Centenary course at the Gleneagles Hotel on September 28, 2014.
Garcia, the 2017 Masters Champion, has accumulated more Ryder Cup points than any player in history.
Poulter, the 47-year-old Englishman, played a massive role in the “Miracle at Medinah:” the 2012 Ryder Cup when the Europeans staged a historic rally to beat the Americans.
Meanwhile, no player has appeared on more winning teams than Westwood, who has helped Europe win seven Ryder Cups.
Nevertheless, McIlroy wants no part of these Ryder Cup stalwarts anymore.
Interestingly though, if a LIV golfer were to qualify based on merit, the four-time major winner feels they belong.
“I certainly think [Koepka] deserves to be on the United States team,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know if anyone else on the LIV roster would make the team on merit [based on] how they’re playing. But [Koepka] is definitely a guy that I think deserves to be on the U.S. team.”
Following his win at Oak Hill, and his second-place finish at The Masters, Koepka currently sits in second place in the U.S. Ryder Cup rankings. At this point, Koepka will likely represent the American side.
It stands to reason that Koepka’s presence on the American team will hurt the European’s chances. He is very clearly one of the best players in the world.
On the flip side, no European LIV golfer will have the merits to qualify on points alone. So if the aforementioned players do play, Captain Luke Donald will have to hand-pick them himself—if the PGA of America allows him to do so.
Indeed, things may get awkward for Team Europe if Donald does have the opportunity to select LIV Players.
