LA JOLLA, Calif. — To the surprise of nobody, Rory McIlroy opposes LIV Golf players becoming European Ryder Cup captains in the future.
McIlroy, who will make his eighth straight appearance on the team at Bethpage Black in September, indicated as such ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines.
“I would have to be convinced,” McIlroy said when asked about a potential Ryder Cup captain coming from LIV.
“It would take them treating it as if Luke Donald’s treated it for the last three years, that’s what it would take to convince me.”
Donald is beloved by the European contingent, so much so that the DP World Tour selected him to return as captain in 2025 after he led his team to victory two years ago in Rome. Neither side has picked a returning captain in 30 years, reinforcing Team Europe’s admiration for Donald. Bernard Gallacher led the Europeans in 1991, 1993, and 1995. The latter was his only victory, which came on U.S. soil at Oak Hill in Rochester.
Should a player want to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup, they must meet two criteria. First, they must be from Europe, and second, they must have DP World Tour membership. Many LIV golfers, such as Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, and Martin Kaymer, forfeited their DP World Tour status when they joined LIV. Therefore, they cannot play on the European Team. Sergio Garcia also fell into this category, although he is currently working things out with the DP World Tour to regain his membership. Garcia is the winningest Ryder Cupper in the history of the competition and desperately wants to rejoin the team on Long Island after missing out in Rome.
“If you don’t have access, it would be pretty hard to treat it that way. If you’re Lee Westwood or Ian Poulter, it’s pretty hard if you don’t have some kind of access,” McIlroy pressed.
“They gave up their European Tour membership, right? Other guys have access to the DP World Tour, Tyrrell [Hatton], Jon [Rahm], they have access.”
To retain DP World Tour membership year after year, a player must compete in four events outside the major championships. Since joining LIV, both Rahm and Hatton have done so to keep their Ryder Cup prospects alive. Hatton even won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last month, thus earning valuable Ryder Cup points.
For the others, McIlroy insists they would have to return to the DP World Tour to be considered.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
