ROME — Rory McIlroy can’t seem to escape the subject of LIV Golf. But of all weeks in professional golf, the topic of rival league was always going to come up at the Ryder Cup, given the impact that Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have had on the European team over the past 20 years before joining LIV last year.
This week’s Cup at Marco Simone is the first time since the 1995 edition without Westwood, Poulter, Garcia, Graeme McDowell or Henrik Stenson in the team. Garcia was Europe’s all-time leading scorer (28½) while Stenson was stripped of the European captaincy he had originally been given for Rome. LIV golfers became ineligible for Europe when they abandoned their DP World Tour membership after joining the Saudi-backed league and subsequently being sanctioned by their previous home tour, which runs the European team of the Ryder Cup.
On Wednesday, McIlroy, who was playing in his seventh Ryder Cup, was asked if he would miss the trio. The Northern Irishman has been a staunch critic of LIV since its inception last year.
“It’s definitely a little strange not having them around,” McIlroy said. “But I think this week of all weeks, they’re going to realize that they’re not here, and I think they’re going to miss being here more than we miss them, so… it’s just that this week is a realization that the decision they made led them to not participate in this week, and it’s difficult.
“The golf landscape is constantly changing and more dynamic, and we will see what happens and if they will be a part of it in the future. I always thought that by this week was the time when they would realize they wouldn’t be there.
The void left by seven-time squad member Poulter and his fellow LIV recruits led European captain Luke Donald to introduce four recruits among his six captaincy choices: Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, Austria’s Sepp Straka, the Dane Nicolai Højgaard and the Swede Ludvig Åberg. Shane Lowry and Justin Rose were the other two picks, while the six qualifiers were McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm.
“Everyone knows it’s a transition period for the European team,” McIlroy said. “Nicolai, Ludvig, Bob… this is the future of our team and the future of the Ryder Cup.”
Rose, a close friend of Poulter, added during his press conference: “There is still a lot of winning culture in the team, with the people in and around the team, the captain, the vice-presidents. captains, Thomas (Bjorn), Luke (Donald). Luke has an incredible Ryder Cup record. The most winning from a percentage point of view. The winning culture within our team is stronger than ever.
McIlroy is 12-12-4 since his 2010 Cup debut. He said the team’s camaraderie was boosted by a scouting trip to Marco Simone’s house earlier this month during the week of DP World Tour BMW PGA at Wentworth.
“I thought it was extremely important,” McIlroy said. “I honestly couldn’t believe we’d never done this before. We got acquainted with the golf course and then the time we spent off the course I thought was great. Just kind of sharing stories around the home and describing our journeys in golf and what the Ryder Cup means to us. Getting to know each other a little better, even with people I thought I’d known for a long time, getting to know them a little better too, was wonderful.
“I think Luke and his vice-captains really tapped into that emotional connection around Team Europe this week, and we all bought into it. It’s been an incredible experience so far, and it’s only Wednesday .There are a lot of great things to come. But I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the team and to have these other 11 guys as my teammates.
