Paul McGinley doesn't want 'greedy' LIV players back in the Ryder Cup
EXCLUSIVE: Paul McGinley rejoices in legal battle victory over the LIV Tour as the former Ryder Cup captain blasts that players such as Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood shouldn’t be allowed to play in the Ryder Cup
- The LIV Tour has damaged Paul McGinley’s relationship with Ryder Cup legends
- Former captain McGinley is unhappy with the selfishness of certain players
- McGinley celebrated the DP World Tour’s legal battle against the LIV
When Paul McGinley holds forth on a subject, the ideas are expressed robustly and succintly. On the toxic row that has engulfed golf over the past year, he is at pains to insist also that his opinions are offered without fear or favour.
As a result, whilst the LIV Tour has compromised the Irishman’s friendship with several of his fellow Ryder Cup legends, his firm opposition to them being welcomed back on the European Tour, he insists, remains strictly business.
‘You know, in all probability, I may well have gone to LIV at 46, 47 years of age,’ McGinley, 56, admits, speaking from his home in Florida. ‘If I’m offered $20, $30 million to go and play in a rival league, I’d have done it.
‘But I wouldn’t have done the LIV Tour then come back and played the European Tour as well. I think that’s greedy. You can’t be on both buses. As great as those players were from Ryder Cups, and as great as they have been for European Tour and, you know, they’re personal friends of mine, I have a disagreement with them.’
McGinley, the veteran of six Ryder Cups, three as a player, one as captain and two vice-captaincies, is talking about players such as Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, among the most prominent LIV recruits who lost a recent legal case demanding that they be allowed to compete on Europe’s DP World Tour as they saw fit. Instead the tour can now set the terms of their return.
Former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley (pictured) believes it is selfish of players to switch between LIV and the European tour
Players such as Lee Westwood (second from left) and Ian Poulter (second from right) decided to join the LIV Tour
Poulter (pictured) was one of the big names to leave the European Tour in favour of the big-money LIV
McGinley was relieved by the outcome of the arbitration case, which was heard by a Sports Resolutions panel in London a fortnight ago. He says it will provide the European Tour with important leverage as it seeks to reach a resolution with LIV players going forward.
He also points out the increased opportunities for Challenge Tour players, especially from the next generation, who might have otherwise been denied a place at tournaments by returning rebels.
He is still smarting that they went as far to sue the tour in an effort to play on it. For potential Ryder Cup captains such as Poulter, McGinley believes such apparent aggression should rule them out of competing in the tournament for the forseeable future, regardless of the Englishman’s celebrated contribution to the event.
‘Next to Seve [Ballesteros], he’s probably been the most influential player from a European perspective in Ryder Cups. It’s phenomenal what he’s done for us. And it’s sad that he’s probably not going to be a captain, or certainly not in the foreseeable future. Everybody had him down to be captain in New York.
‘I’m not going to close the door to that, but it’s odds-against now. There’s consequences with big decisions. And these are big decisions. The Ryder Cup is partly owned by the European tour.
These guys are involved in an entity that is now harming the European tour, financially. So, unfortunately, they’ve removed themselves from the Ryder Cup, as far as I’m concerned.’
It riles him that the Saudis are persisting with an approach regarded as combative by some, brazen by others such as McGinley. ‘Their very first event was played in London [the suburbs of Hertfordshire, in fact, at the Centurion Club].
McGinley wants the participation of LIV players in major tournaments smoothed
‘It was played in the heartland of the European tour. Now they’ve taken Valderrama, an iconic Ryder Cup venue, put it on their schedule, that’s competitive. They’re acting in a very aggressive way and the European tour have a right to protect their business.’
McGinley is speaking to the Mail on Sunday days after the Masters and in his capacity as a member of the Legends Tour, on which he plays when media commitments permit. Next up for him is its Irish event at the Seapoint links in County Louth, immediately after the US Open.
He is satisfied that LIV players, as it stands, continue to feature in the major tournaments and wants their continued participation smoothed. Even if that means relaxing the qualification process that currently awards entry through world ranking points – unavailable to LIV – and former champions.
McGinley spent six years on the board of the European tour until resigning last month, a role that placed him at the heart of negotiations that led the DP World Tour to sign a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour. It protected itself against a threat from the Saudi-backed LIV project that, McGinley says, threatened the very existence of the European tour.
He is upset at having to walk away from the role just to quash accusations that it compromised him as a prominent media pundit, paid to comment on the game. ‘No one ever told me what to say on TV,’ he says, ‘and you know what, my position is still the same.
McGinley was relieved that the DP World Tour won a recent legal battle against LIV players
McGinley believes that Poulter (left) and Westwood (right) shouldn’t be allowed to play in the next Ryder Cup competition
From a European context, we’ve now lost five events on the European tour, to the LIV tour. Why should we welcome them back with open arms when they’re actively taking tournaments off our schedule?’
More personally, he hopes the torrent of abuse that he apparently suffers online from LIV supporters will cease as hostilities, hopefully, cool. ‘I am [tired],’ he says. ‘I am tired of everybody having an opinion that it’s either black or it’s white. Relations are stalled at this moment in time.
And I’m all in favour of a compromise somewhere down the line. But I know it’s going to take a few years for that to work its way out. The important thing is now, the European tour have got the leverage to create a compromise that suits them.’
Paul McGinley will be playing the Irish Legends at Seapoint Golf Links in June, to see how you could play in the event or to purchase tickets, visit www.legendstour.com/alliance
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