The 2023 Ryder Cup is now just months away. Ahead of the biennial golf tournament in which Europe and USA face off against each other, Sir Nick Faldo has insisted that no LIV Golf player should be allowed to compete in the Ryder Cup. This includes both in a playing or captaining capacity.
LIV Golfers Should Be Banned From The Ryder Cup – Faldo
Sir Nick Faldo believes that any golfer who has switched their allegiance to the LIV Golf Invitational Series should be banned from competing in the Ryder Cup. The six-time major champion believes that no player who has joined LIV golf should have the opportunity to play or even have the chance to captain/vice-captain at the biennial golf event.
From an American perspective, if this was the case, they would lose a tonne of top quality players. The likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch and Kevin Na will all be unable to represent Team USA if indeed this is the case.
Similarly, if Faldo’s aspirations of having no LIV Golf players at the Ryder Cup does come true, then Europe will struggle too. Stalwarts over the past couple of decades for the Europeans such as Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Graham McDowell would be unable to compete at the Ryder Cup.
In a recent interview with Sky Sports News, Faldo expressed anger and frustration at LIV Golf and believes players who have gone to LIV have burned their bridges with the Ryder Cup:
“They shouldn’t be there because they’ve gone off and you’ve got to move on.
“They’re all at the age where Europe needs to find a new breed of 25-year-olds that can play half a dozen or more Ryder Cups, and I think we’re going to have that.”
Henrick Stenson was originally picked as the Ryder Cup captain for Team Europe. However, Luke Donald soon took his place as skipper shortly after Stenson announced he would be moving to LIV Golf. Faldo, a veteran of eleven Ryder Cups, feels strongly about this and would ban all LIV golfers from being involved with the Ryder Cup ging forward in any capacity at all.
“They’re done,” said the 65-year-old. “It’s a rival tour. If you work for a company for 20 years and you then leave to go to a rival company, I can promise you your picture won’t still be on the wall. You’ve moved on. Fine, off you go.
“They’ve made that decision and I’m sure they knew it was going to cost them. They were playing the maths game. They were getting a huge chunk of money up front, and they knew it was going to lose them sponsors, but they thought ‘I still win’.”
LIV Golf Doesn’t Help Grow The Sport and Is A ‘Meaningless’ Concept – Faldo
Faldo, a three-time Masters champion and three-time Open champion, believes that LIV Golf is a meaningless concept and does nothing in terms of growing the sport.
Greg Norman, LIV Golf CEO and the fronter of the Saudi-backed tour, is a long-term rival of Faldo’s. The Englishman didn’t pull any punches when discussing LIV Golf and whether it helps grow the sport of golf. Faldo believes that LIV Golf is just antagonising the existing tours:
“It’s a closed shop: 48 guys given loads of money,” Faldo said.
“If they keep saying they want to grow the game of golf, go and take it to new regions. Countries in the early days of being interested in golf now. Try that rather than just trying to antagonise everybody.
“Whatever they want to do, go and do it. Let these youngsters play what we deem is real, competitive golf. Once you’ve decided to retire, disappear, move on, or go to another job. No one’s going to talk about you, so just go and do your thing and get on with it.”
Team USA are the overriding favourites with the best offshore betting sites to retain the Ryder Cup. USA are -190 favorites to win the Ryder Cup with the best US sports betting apps.
