Cup – Golfing Agency

Continental Europe takes 3-2 lead after opening day of Hero Cup

detlef32 — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 17:03:45 +0000

Continental Europe won the first two matches of the day before securing a narrow 3-2 lead over Great Britain and Ireland against after the opening session of fourballs matches at the Hero Cup, a new team matchplay tournament that is being held at Abu Dhabi Golf Club this week.

Thomas Pieters gets Friday’s fourball matches under way on day one of the Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Swede Alex Noren defeated GB&I Captain Tommy Fleetwood and Ireland’s Shane Lowry 1up in a thrilling opening clash at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The Continental Europe pairing were 3up at the turn before Fleetwood and Lowry fought back to all square through 15 holes, but Noren – a man with a history of holing important putts on the final hole – rolled in a birdie on the 18th to secure the first point for his side.

Belgian Thomas Detry and France’s Antoine Rozner were two down against English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith after four holes, but recovered well to secure a 2up victory, with Detry finishing in a style with an eagle at the last to celebrate his 30th birthday.

Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and Frenchman Victor Perez, representing Continental Europe, secured a half against the second all-English pairing of Callum Shinkwin and Matt Wallace in a match of high quality, while Robert MacIntyre and Séamus Power secured the largest margin of victory on day one, defeating Poland’s Adrian Meronk and Austrian Sepp Straka 4&3 to earn GB&I’s first winning point.

With the final match finishing after 15 holes, it was left to Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari and Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard to try and extend their team’s lead, however Richard Mansell matched Højgaard’s closing birdie to ensure the Englishman and Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson closed day one with a half.

Séamus Power and Robert MacIntyre earned a full point for Great Britain & Ireland after winning their match against Adrian Meronk and Sepp Straka

Tommy Fleetwood said: “I think it was a good team performance on the first day. I know we would loved to have finished the day and been the right side of the scoreboard and been up. Unbelievable really that four matches go down the last. Just shows how close the teams are in terms of levels.

“I think in the end, to get out of that session 3-2, we’ll definitely go back to our team rooms feeling the better, and the guys, I just said to the guys, that’s why those guys are at the back, trust them to get something out of it at the last and be very tough coming down that last hole.”

Francesco Molinari added “I’m really happy and proud of how we started today. I think obviously a lot of tight matches which is good for Luke [Donald] and his Ryder Cup vice captains to see. My guys did amazing. Obviously it’s a nice start, long way to go but it’s always nice winning a day, winning a session.”

To see all the scores and a live leaderboard from the Hero Cup, click here.

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Ryder Cup 2023: Jon Rahm calls for organizations to make uniform decision on LIV Golf players in Rome

detlef32 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 18:47:41 +0000

Jon Rahm will almost certainly be at this year’s Ryder Cup in Rome, but the group that joins him on the European side for the biennial competition has never been more up in the air. It’s not just the Europeans, either, as the United States team is going to have some decisions to make when it comes to September’s event — particularly as it pertains to LIV Golf participants joining in on the festivities.

“There’s some people that are going to have to make some tough choices, right?” said Rahm on Tuesday at the Tournament of Champions where he will open his 2023 campaign. “A little bit of that is out of my reach. My guess is I hope the PGA of America and European Tour make a decision together. I don’t think it would be smart to have one team allowing LIV players and one not to.

“And besides that, even if they decide not to on that side, I think it’s going to give an opportunity for a lot of great young players to show up and have the chance in Europe, right? It’s just going to be an opportunity for all of them. We saw a younger U.S. team last Ryder Cup and they did what they did. So I’m hoping these younger guys who have grown up watching the Ryder Cup and seeing their idols do what they do, let’s say, it energizes the team a little bit in any manner and we show up there to win.”

Decisions are not unusual, of course, as captains for both sides always have to make picks for the matches (both teams will have six wild card selections this year). But the organizations that run this event — PGA of America on the U.S. side and European Tour on the European side — have some more philosophical choices to make before the captains make their selections.

Namely (as Rahm noted): Should LIV Golf player be eligible to participate in the Ryder Cup?

Several of the top players in the world left the PGA Tour and European Tour in 2022 to join the Saudi-backed startup golf league, and both of those leagues attempted to suspend those players from playing. The PGA Tour was successful in doing so while a court ruled that European Tour players could — for the time being — play in European Tour events. A court is supposed to issue a final ruling in February.

There has been much debate about what this should mean for players outside of these two leagues. The Masters, for example, recently said that any LIV player that qualified for its 2023 event would be eligible to play for that event. This seems perfunctory, but given how chaotic the last year has been, it was treated as big news.

In September, the PGA Tour — which, as a reminder, is a very different organization than the PGA of America — banned all golfers from participating in the Presidents Cup, which it runs on both the United States and international sides. Interestingly, international captain Trevor Immelman asked why Louis Oosthuizen could not play as he resigned his PGA Tour membership and an international Presidents Cup player doesn’t have to be a PGA Tour member to play in the Presidents Cup. He was told that Oosthuizen violated PGA Tour rules while he was still a member.

All of this is messy, and it’s up for debate over which team it will affect more. Of the top 12 players on the European side (according to Data Golf), only one — Paul Casey — is a LIV player, although Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood are on the cusp of being in that top 12. When it comes to the Americans, only Dustin Johnson is inside the top 12 while nobody else is in the top 20 (Talor Gooch is 25th).

The European Tour is in more of a bind than the PGA of America, and the ultimate decision will likely be dictated by what the Euro side wants. After attempting to keep players from playing on its tour, an about face when it comes to the Ryder Cup it also runs would feel disingenuous. Again, this probably (?) won’t matter significantly when it comes to the construction of the team, but Rahm wants Garcia there, and Rahm has a lot of sway on the European side.

Regardless of how it plays out, this is going to be one of the bigger storylines of 2023. All of our focus has been on what the major championships are going to decide when it comes to LIV golfers, but the Ryder Cup (and both organizations that run it) are in that boat as well. And while major decisions will affect a small percentage of the fields that play in them, Ryder Cup choices could (could!) have a massive effect on the actual outcome of this year’s event.

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Luton Hoo launches bid to host Ryder Cup

detlef32 — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 15:51:49 +0000

Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa is bidding to end the almost 30-year absence of the Ryder Cup from England after launching a bid to host the biennial matches in 2031 or 2035.

Located just a short direct train ride from central London and a few minutes’ drive from the M1 and Luton Airport, the luxury estate is set in over 1,000 acres of parkland, woods and lakes in Bedfordshire.

Luton Hoo Hotel has hosted Challenge Tour and EuroPro Tour events before, but is now bidding to host the Ryder Cup in either 2031 or 2035

The estate is currently home to an 18-hole championship course and in line with the Arora Group’s ambition to create something special on the estate, it plans to design and build a completely new championship course worthy of hosting the Ryder Cup.

Surinder Arora, founder and chairman of the Arora Group, which owns the venue, commented: “Our acquisition of Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa was always with the intention to curate a luxury leisure and hospitality experience on the existing estate. We want to continue building on the already rich history of Luton Hoo and to ensure that any future investment into the estate will bring economic benefit to Bedfordshire and surrounding areas.

“Hosting the Ryder Cup, potentially in either 2031 or 2035, would raise the profile of the area to a global audience and the opportunity to bid to host a Ryder Cup at Luton Hoo is a very real and realistic ambition.”

Cllr Richard Wenham, leader of Central Bedfordshire Council, said: “The Ryder Cup is an iconic sporting event celebrated and enjoyed across the globe. Arora’s aspirational plans to take the superb Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa complex set in its beautiful surroundings to the next level, have the scope to put Central Bedfordshire on the world stage. Securing the Ryder Cup would be an enormous boost to our thriving economy, bringing many new tourists and supporting more new jobs.”

The Arora Group, the UK’s largest private hotel owner-operator, purchased Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa from Elite Hotels in December 2021. Its championship course previously hosted the Bridgestone Challenge 2017 and 2018, and the EuroPro Tour in 2017.

Originally known as a specialist airport hotel owner operator, the Arora Group bought The Buckinghamshire Golf Club in 2018.

Luton Hoo’s Ryder Cup bid is likely to come up against a rival English bid from Hulton Park in Bolton, which has announced plans to build a brand new course to accommodate the matches.

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Stephen Gallacher to captain European Junior Ryder Cup team

detlef32 — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 16:09:47 +0000

Stephen Gallacher is been selected to captain Europe at the 2023 Junior Ryder Cup, while Ryder Cup Europe and the European Golf Association have also confirmed the selection process for the European junior team.

The Scot, a four-time DP World Tour winner, was part of the European team that retained the Ryder Cup in 2014, winning 16.5-11.5 at Gleneagles.

Six boys and six girls will take on the USA in Rome from September 26-28, 2023, with the first two days of the Junior Ryder Cup being played at Golf Nazionale before the singles matches are held at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, the Ryder Cup venue, on the eve of the 44th edition of the biennial contest between Europe and the United States.

Three boys and three girls will earn a place on the European Junior Ryder Cup team through a season-long ranking system, which has been organised by the European Golf Association, while the remaining six players will be selected by Gallacher, the European Junior Ryder Cup Captain.

Gallacher set up his own foundation to help and encourage junior golfers in Scotland and he will now lead the European junior team in Rome as he continues to inspire the next generation of golfers.

“I am absolutely delighted to be named Junior European Ryder Cup Captain for 2023,” said Gallacher. “It’s a privilege to be able to lead a team of the best juniors in Europe against America in Rome. “Playing the final day at Marco Simone will be a fantastic experience for our players who get the opportunity to compete in front of Ryder Cup crowds on the Ryder Cup course for the first time.”

He added: “I’m really looking forward to getting to some events during the year and working with the most exciting future talent in Europe.”

Players will earn points for the Rankings based on their finishing position in selected elite amateur events in 2023 and these points will be allocated using the World Amateur Golf Ranking system. The qualification process will end following The R&A Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur Championships on August 20, 2023.

Boys and girls who are citizens of a European country as defined by the International Golf Federation’s Nationality Policy, under 18 years of age on January 1, 2023, and who are not enrolled to play college golf in USA during 2023 are eligible to participate in the 2023 Junior Ryder Cup.

The 2021 Junior Ryder Cup was postponed due to the pandemic, although the US team that had been selected played an exhibition match at Whistling Straits.

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2024 Presidents Cup: Mike Weir named international team captain for event at Royal Montreal

detlef32 — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 02:10:06 +0000

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From one Masters champion to another. Mike Weir was named the International team captain for the 2024 Presidents Cup, which will be played at Royal Montreal Golf Club in his home country of Canada. Weir, the 2003 Masters champ, takes over for Trevor Immelman, the 2008 champion.

Weir served as an assistant captain on Immelman’s International team that just lost to the United States team at Quail Hollow (Charlotte, N.C.) 17.5-12.5. It was his third consecutive stint as an assistant captain.

“Presidents Cup has become such a big part of my career, so to be here in this moment announced as captain of the 2024 International Team is surreal,” said Weir in a statement. “When I look back, I have so many incredible memories associated with this event whether it be my debut in 2000; winning my Singles match against Tiger in 2007 at Royal Montreal; witnessing Ernie create the shield in 2019; and then seeing Trevor carry that momentum in 2022. Now as I look with anticipation toward 2024, I couldn’t be more excited to lead the International Team into my home country of Canada for what will surely be the experience of a lifetime.”

Weir, who played in five Presidents Cups, succeeds Immelman and Ernie Els as the International team tries to turn the tide on an event that has not gone in their favor over the years. Overall, the International team is 1-12-1 against the United States.

There was some chatter that Immelman might get another shot after a terrific captaincy in 2022 in which his roster was depleted on account of LIV. Perhaps he will in the future, but Weir was an obvious candidate given that he was the first Canadian to ever compete in this event and played in it the first time it went to Canada in 2007 (where he went 3-1-1 including a victory over Tiger Woods in singles).

That year’s event was also at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

“Captaining the team at this golf course is going to carve out an entire new piece of history in my career that can’t be replaced,” Weir added. “I have such a deep sense of pride bringing the team home knowing that in my opinion, the people of Canada are the most loyal and passionate sports fans in the world. We are hopeful to have a few Canadians on the team that will help muster up some of the loudest roars the event has ever heard.”

The U.S. captain for 2024 has not been named yet.

The next Presidents Cup in the United States will take place in 2026 at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club.

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Hero Cup teams announced

detlef32 — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 12:34:30 +0000

Rising star Rasmus Højgaard will be hoping to play in next year’s Ryder Cup

European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald has announced 18 players, including a mix of Ryder Cup stars, Major champions and the most promising young players, to make up the Continental Europe and Great Britain and Ireland teams for next year’s Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi from January 13-15.

In consultation with the respective Hero Cup captains Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari, who will both compete as playing captains, Donald confirmed the teams for next year’s match play contest at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with one remaining position for each team to be allocated at the end of December.

Donald and Molinari have constructed a strong mix of proven winners with Sweden’s Alex Noren and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters bringing Ryder Cup experience to the Continental Europe ranks one week before the Belgian defends his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title at Yas Links.

Molinari’s team will be completed by a host of exciting young players, including Austrian Sepp Straka, who won his maiden PGA Tour title at The Honda Classic in 2022, three-time DP World Tour winner Rasmus Højgaard, two-time winner Victor Perez and Adrian Meronk, who became the first Polish player to win on the DP World Tour when he claimed the 2022 Horizon Irish Open.

Belgium’s Thomas Detry has also enjoyed a strong start to his rookie PGA TOUR season finishing in the top-12 in three of the five events played – including second place in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship – and has six top-15 finishes on the DP World Tour. He is joined by three-time DP World Tour winner Guido Migliozzi, who claimed the biggest victory of his career in September at the Cazoo Open de France.

Tyrrell Hatton will be teeing it up for GB&I in the Hero Cup

The Great Britain and Ireland team, led by two-time Ryder Cup player Fleetwood, boasts 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry and four-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton amongst its ranks.

They will be joined by a stream of Ryder Cup hopefuls, including Irishman Séamus Power, who has enjoyed a stunning start to the 2023 PGA Tour season and currently leads the FedEx Cup standings, and DP World Tour winners Ewen Ferguson, Robert MacIntyre, Callum Shinkwin, Jordan Smith and Matt Wallace.

Donald said: “Having worked closely with Tommy and Fran on building the two teams, I’m delighted with the mix of players who will be on show at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in January. We all thought it was important to combine experience and youthfulness and I think we have found that balance with a mixture of Major Champions and Ryder Cup players, alongside guys who are hoping to secure a spot in Rome next year.”

Molinari, the Continental Europe Captain and 2018 Open Champion, said: “Our team is packed full of exciting players who all have the attributes to excel in a match play contest and I’m excited to lead them into the Hero Cup next year. Some of our younger players have already shown incredible maturity in high-pressured situations and proved they can perform in big moments, so giving them the opportunity to compete on this stage alongside the likes of Alex Noren and Thomas Pieters will be really important at the beginning of what could be a big year for them.”

Fleetwood, who combined with Molinari to collect four points from four matches at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France, said: “I am really pleased with the players who will form the Great Britain and Ireland team next year. Having the experience of Shane and Tyrrell will be invaluable for the rest of the team in a match play environment but I think we are really strong throughout the team. We have proven winners in some of the biggest DP World Tour events and it will be great to have Séámus with us following his excellent start to the season in America.”

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Dutch club to host Solheim Cup in 2026

detlef32 — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 17:00:42 +0000

The Netherlands is to host the Solheim Cup for the first time in 2026, with Bernardus Golf named as the venue for the biennial contest.

Bernardus Golf, located in Cromvoirt close to Eindhoven, opened in 2018 and has hosted the Dutch Open on the DP World Tour on two occasions, with it scheduled to be that tournament’s venue once again in 2023.

Robert van der Wallen, the owner of Bernardus and the chairman of PSV Eindhoven, said: “We are very excited to be hosting the Solheim Cup in 2026 and to partner with the Royal Dutch Golf Federation, IMG, the LET and LPGA. The opportunity to host such a globally significant sports event is a huge honour for our whole team. Experience is what we are all about at Bernardus and our preparations are already under way to ensure we play our part in providing the stage to host a best-in-class Solheim Cup experience in September 2026.”

With more than 420,000 golfers, golf is the fourth most popular sport in the Netherlands and this number is still growing.

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2022 Houston Open leaderboard: Ryder Cup veterans Alex Noren, Tony Finau among those in front after Round 1

detlef32 — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 02:20:44 +0000

The first round of this year’s Houston Open is in the books, and if leaderboards are any indication of the quality of an event — and they are — then this tournament is going to be a great one over the next three days.

Former Ryder Cuppers Alex Noren and Tony Finau are tied at the top at 5 under along with potentially future Ryder Cupper, Aaron Wise as well as Tyson Alexander who only completed 17 holes before darkness. Between the three players at the top who completed their rounds, they made just two combined bogeys in 54 holes at a tough Memorial Park Golf Course, and there’s some distance between them and the rest of the best players in the field.

Let’s take a closer look at their first rounds and what to expect over the weekend in Houston.

The leaders

1. Tony Finau, Alex Noren, Aaron Wise, Tyson Alexander (-5): Gone are the low 60s scores of last week signifying an easy resort golf course that professionals can light up. Memorial Park Golf Course is a Tom Doak redesign and has proved to be tricky over its first two PGA Tour events. This one looks to be much of the same.

Wise has been playing terrific golf this fall and seems to have solved some of his putter problems, which could also be a problem for the rest of the fields he plays in. It’s been en vogue to suggest him as a potential breakout star this year, but there’s a reason for that — he’s a terrific ball-striker — and it’s looking at least now like it could be true.

“I feel like I’m getting there,” said Wise of the state of his game. “I’m pretty hard on myself, there’s always things I want to improve, but I feel like I’m well on my way. I feel like I’m in a way better spot than I was a year ago or two years ago. I just want to keep pushing and keep getting better and see how good I can get”

Finau has been one of the hottest players in golf over the last two months, and Noren has caught a bit of that heat as well — he finished second at the Barracuda Championship in July and T2 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the beginning of October. Both are tremendous ball-strikers and Noren led the field in iron play on Thursday. I would be surprised if one of these three players didn’t end up winning the tournament.

Other contenders

T5. Zack Fischer, Ben Taylor, Keith Mitchell, Taylor Pendrith, Wyndham Clark, Mackenzie Hughes, Max McGreevy, David Lipsky (-4)

T13. Scott Piercy, Denny McCarthy, Brendan Steele, Maverick McNealy, Justin Rose, Marty Dou Zecheng, Joel Dahmen, Zack Fischer, Brent Grant, Trey Mullinax, Yechun Yuan, Ben Griffin (-3)

That’s a lot of names but not a lot of depth. Who’s the best player in this group right now? Mitchell? Dahmen? McNealy?

McNealy has probably been playing the best golf of anyone in this collection of players with four consecutive top-20 finishes after a missed cut at the Fortinet Championship to start his 2022-23 season. He drove it poorly on Thursday (only two golfers hit fewer fairways) but his immense short game kept a round together. If he gets it rolling off the tee, he could certainly jump up into contention on the weekend.

Dahmen, too, has been trending in the right direction. After a T37 at the Shriners, he finished T16 at the Zozo and T3 last week at the World Wide Technology Championship in Mayakoba. He was good across the board on Thursday, and it would give this tournament a bit of a jolt to see one of the more popular men in golf get his second career victory.

Sam Burns’ struggles

As one of the two top 12 players in this field, much was expected of Burns. Unfortunately he shot a 77 on Thursday and has only four golfers behind him on the leaderboard. Normally a strong putter, Burns lost nearly five (!!) strokes to the field on the greens on Thursday and put himself in a corner that’s going to be difficult to get out of.

2022 Houston Open odds, picks

Tony Finau: 4-1
Aaron Wise: 5-1
Alex Noren: 12-1
Taylor Pendrith: 14-1
Maverick McNealy: 14-1
Scottie Scheffler: 18-1

Normally I like to look pretty far down the board to find somebody with longer odds. However, I think one of the co-leaders is going to end up winning this tournament. I would simply sprinkle on those three and hope that Noren hits but not be disappointed if it’s one of the others.

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2022 Bermuda Championship: Seamus Power earns second career victory, enters Ryder Cup conversation

detlef32 — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:29:48 +0000

While the LIV Golf Championship wound down with $34 million on the line between 16 golfers in Miami on Sunday, Seamus Power had something even more valuable at stake one time zone east of where Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed were busy winning the $16 million first prize at LIV Miami.

Power shot a roller coaster of a 70 in the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship to go with three consecutive 65s to start the week and beat Thomas Detry by a single shot. The win gets Power into next year’s Masters (he’s only played in one in his career), moves him up from his impressive No. 48 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings, nets him 500 FedEx Cup points and, perhaps most intriguing of all, officially puts him on the 2023 Ryder Cup watch list.

The Irishman went out in 33 on Sunday but came home with four bogeys (including three in his last four holes!) and a 37 that could have upended his chances. However, his main competitor in the final round in Bermuda, Ben Griffin, had an even wackier back nine as he shot a 4-over 39 on the back with two birdies, four bogeys and a double.

“Delighted to get it done,” the affable European said after his round. “… absolutely delighted.”

The win is Power’s second on the PGA Tour — he also took the Barbasol Championship in 2021. But don’t let the quality of victory obfuscate what has been a terrific rise for somebody who doesn’t get as much run as fellow countryman Shane Lowry but could possibly a teammate of Lowry’s come Rom next September.

“Completely different feeling but just as special,” said the 35-year-old after his win. “It’s so hard. I play a lot of tournaments and this is only my second. It’s amazing it’s special. It’s going to take a while to sink in, but absolutely over the moon.”

In 2019 Power was a (well) below average PGA Tour player who was averaging -1.0 strokes per round, but in each of the last three seasons he’s improved to the point that he’s now hanging out in the statistical neighborhood with golfers like Jason Day, Paul Casey, Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott.

Perhaps even more impressively, Power came into this week’s Bermuda Championship as one of the handful of favorites to win … and then he won. That’s one of the hardest things in golf to do, and now the question is whether he can move from being a good lower-tier PGA Tour player to competitive with the big boys in the most important events.

In 2022, Power qualified for all four major championships and had two top 12s and three top 30s in his four starts. This is encouraging and a sign of his tremendous growth as a golfer over the last several years.

Power could go a number of different directions from here. Perhaps he’ll remain as a good but not great PGA Tour golfer. Perhaps he’ll make yet another leap in 2023, contend in more majors and notch his first Ryder Cup experience in Rome. Perhaps somewhere in the middle of those two realities is where he’ll eventually land. Regardless, his win in Bermuda on Sunday was a reminder of just how far he’s jumped in such a short timespan and what that could mean for his suddenly surging career.

We’ve got reaction and analysis to the Bermuda Butterfield Championship and LIV Miami. Follow and listen to The First Cut podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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POULTER: “I’M READY TO QUALIFY FOR THE RYDER CUP TEAM”

detlef32 — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 12:12:35 +0000

Ian Poulter has insisted that he hopes to be able to compete in next year’s Ryder Cup in Rome despite having signed for LIV Golf.

Poulter, who has played in seven previous Ryder Cups and has 16 points to his name, is at the forefront of a legal challenge to the DP World Tour aimed at allowing LIV golfers to not only be able to qualify for the Ryder Cup, but continue to play in DP World Tour events across the world.

Poulter, speaking in Miami before the final LIV Golf event of 2022, which gets under way at Trump Doral on Friday, said: “We can still qualify for the team as far as I’m aware. Unless we’ve been told we can’t qualify, then I’m still ready to play as much as I possibly can and try and make that team.”

He added: “My commitment to the Ryder Cup has never been in doubt. I don’t think that should ever come into question. I’ve always wanted to play Ryder Cups and have played with as much passion as anyone else that I’ve ever seen play a Ryder Cup.”

One person who isn’t keen on Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood teeing it up in Rome is world no.1 Rory McIlroy, who said that he felt a sense of ‘betrayal’ from all those European players who have signed up to LIV Golf and still expected to be able to play in DP World Tour events and the Ryder Cup.

Speaking after his win at last weekend’s CJ Cup about his feelings towards former Ryder Cup teammates who have joined LIV Golf, McIlroy said: “This is the first time that I’ve felt a kind of sense of betrayal. You build bonds with these people through Ryder Cups and other things. Them knowing that what they are about to do is going to jeopardise them from being a part of that ever again. There was a great opportunity for GMac [Graeme McDowell] to maybe be the captain at Adare in 2027, while most of Sergio’s legacy is Ryder Cup-based, same with Poulter and Westwood.”

He added: “If people felt so aggrieved about some things. I’d rather be trying to make those changes from inside the walls than trying to go outside and be disruptive.”

A five-day hearing, presided over by Sport Resolutions UK, is take place in London in February when a final decision will be made on whether LIV Golf members can continue to participate in DP World Tour events where eligible, collect Ryder Cup qualification points and feature on the order of merit. This opens the door for the involvement of the players in question in the Race to Dubai finale in November, plus the Middle East swing in January next year.

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