Even supposing that the shadow of LIV Golf had not loomed ever larger above European golf these past 18 months, the continent’s quest to regain the Ryder Cup in Rome was always going to be faced with the on-going complications of generational change.
Since 1995, Europe has won nine of the 13 matches – and is undefeated on home soil – but, for the gladiators who formed the backbone of the team throughout this period of dominance, this was always going to be a Colosseum too far.
True, one or two might have provided veteran wiles, but en masse the glory days were behind them. Lee Westwood is now a 50-year-old; Sergio García, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Luke Donald are all fortysomethings.
When the first five of those players joined LIV last spring, their participation in this September’s match was put in jeopardy. Their involvement became even less likely when the Sport Resolutions arbitration panel ruled in favour of the DP World Tour regarding sanctions against LIV-competing members.
And when last week the DP World Tour confirmed the membership resignations of Westwood, García, Poulter and also Richard Bland, the three rebels boasting the most significant Ryder Cup records were immediately guaranteed non-starters this fall in Rome (and also in the future).
Put simply, the European golfing family, which for 40 years has self-styled unity as its greatest strength, has become so fractured it makes “Kramer vs. Kramer” look like “Love Actually.” It is a sporting divorce for the ages, with all the sour looks, bitter words and rancorous relationships you might expect.
A statement released from tour headquarters in Wentworth, England, even resembled the tight-lipped response to a broken marriage. “The DP World Tour would like to take this opportunity to thank the four players for the contribution they have made to the tour and in particular to Sergio, Ian and Lee for the significant part they have played in Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup over many years,” it read. “Their resignations, however, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.”
The opportunity to captain at a Ryder Cup is a European golfer’s equivalent of being father of the bride, but neither Westwood, García nor Poulter will be walking his continent down the aisle.
Westwood maintained the tone of forlorn formality when speaking to London’s Daily Telegraph. “I never would have believed it had ended like this, and there has to be a bit of sadness,” he said, adding: “People say I knew exactly what would happen, but nobody told us the extent of the punishments.”
Rory McIlroy, too, was on-trend when responding to the news at the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship. “For those three guys to not captain Europe one day, it’s a shame,” he said. “But they knew that these were potentially going to be the consequences of those actions, and here we are.”
García, meanwhile, assumed the role of the family member in denial because, while the DP World Tour reported that 16 of 17 players had paid the £100,000 fine (about $126,000) imposed for serious breaches of the tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulations, it added that the Spaniard had not: “Nor has he given any indication that he intends to. We will therefore take appropriate action if he continues not to respect the Sport Resolutions panel’s decision.”
The legal shenanigans also are far from complete, with the original tour statement ending: “Details of further sanctions for players who breached the Conflicting Tournament Regulation by playing in subsequent conflicting events without a release will be announced next week.”
It is so far unclear why there have been only four resignations but the impact of that leading trio’s decision is significant enough because, as with all break-ups, the past becomes soiled, the present awkward and the future forever tainted by what-ifs and unsatisfying compromises.
Take the past first. Westwood’s Ryder Cup heritage is profound. He represented Europe 11 times, celebrated seven wins and first competed in 1997 under the captaincy of Severiano Ballesteros, meaning that the pair form a constant thread from the beginning of Europe’s renaissance in 1985 to the current day.
The loss of García – Europe’s leading points scorer in the match – means that, unless José María Olazábal assumes backroom duties, for the first time since 1981 not one of Ballesteros, Olazábal or García – the three inspirational Spanish giants and former Masters champions – will perform a role in the match (García and Olazábal were vice captains in 2010).
And who can measure the impact of Poulter? A golfer who defied a widely perceived lack of raw talent to become arguably the most wired competitor in Ryder Cup history, one who not only lit the fuse for the 2012 Miracle at Medinah through sheer force of eye-popping personality, but fanned the flames as well.
None of these feats will be forgotten, but, like family photo albums glanced at after divorce, the subsequent fissures will forever stain the memories.
In the present, Donald and, possibly, Rose will be the only veterans involved in Rome. The former is, of course, captain, and the latter might play if he maintains the form by which he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.
This is the generational change that was inevitable. At the Hero Cup, Europe’s Ryder Cup warmup in January, Thomas Bjørn told the assembled GB&I and Continental European teams: “We’re done. We’ve taken this tour where it is. It’s your turn to take over the mantle.”
He was addressing the dangers of an old guard lingering a little too long, a threat partially responsible for the crushing 19-9 defeat in the 2021 match at Whistling Straits (García won three of four points that week, but Westwood, Poulter and Casey garnered two from 10). Bjørn also was hoping to draw a line under what he correctly predicted would be the enforced absence of some of his peers.
And the future? That, too, is ruptured. The opportunity to captain at a Ryder Cup is a European golfer’s equivalent of being father of the bride, but neither Westwood, García nor Poulter will be walking his continent down the aisle.
To stretch the metaphor to a breaking point, they’ve traded a team event they had a lifelong love of – one that defined them when major championships for the most part chose to look the other way – for a younger team event that has fluttered its eyelashes at them. Unlike a divorce, it has proved to be lucrative, but there have been other costs.
The broken family is an old, old story. It’s just not one anyone could have predicted would be played out in and around Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
Indeed, as hard as it was to imagine, in the 1970s, that the Ryder Cup might ever present a remotely competitive spectacle, 10 years ago it would have been utterly inconceivable that Westwood, García and Poulter would become personae non gratae.
E-MAIL MATT
Top: Sergio García, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter celebrate winning the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Ross Kinnaird, Getty Images