Golf news 2022: Ryder Cup risks becoming ‘nonsense’ after list of rebel defections continues to grow

Golf’s pre-eminent team event The Ryder Cup could be collateral damage and a shadow of former self if defections to the rebel golf series continue to escalate. See who could be missing.

Chief Executive of LIV Golf Greg Norman smiles ahead of the start on the third and final day of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at The Centurion Club in St Albans, north of London, on June 11, 2022. - The LIV Golf Invitational London, the launch event of a lucrative and divisive series that is rocking the sport reaches it's conclusion. The $25 million event in St Albans -- the biggest prize pot in history -- is the first of eight tournaments this year bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, worth a combined $255 million. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Europe and the United States will lock horns at the Ryder Cup next year but the tournament could be a pale shadow of its former self after multiple defections to the rebel LIV series.

The event in Italy starting on September 29, 2023, will be billed as Europe’s chance to exact revenge for a humbling defeat last year at Whistling Straits but who will be in the field is anybody’s guess.

Henrik Stenson was this week stripped of his role as Europe’s team captain while fellow European stars Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell all risk being omitted from future Ryder Cups.

As things stand Americans Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka will not be in the frame for selection for the US team at the event at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome.

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Phil Mickelson will not be in the frame for selection in the US team at the Ryder Cup.

The US PGA Tour swiftly suspended its defectors last month, effectively ruling them out of competing in the biennial team competition because they will not be able to earn the points to qualify.

The DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, imposed heavy fines on its members who played in the inaugural LIV event in London and banned them from three events.

But the punishments have not stemmed the tide of players signing up to the Saudi-funded LIV series and it is difficult to predict how things will unfold as golf’s civil war deepens.

Wednesday’s announcement that Stenson was jumping ship, and would play in the third event of the LIV series in Bedminster, New Jersey, next week was a bitter blow for golf’s establishment.

The 46-year-old Swede, appointed captain in March, said he accepted the decision even though he disagreed with it.

“I sincerely hope a resolution between the tours and its members can be reached soon and that the Ryder Cup can act as a mechanism for repair amongst various golfing bodies and their members,” he said.

Westwood and Garcia have said they see no reason why competing in LIV tournaments should rule them out of future trans-Atlantic matches and with 14 months to go there is time for a compromise to be reached.

But US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson has given a clear steer that players must qualify for the team through the PGA Tour.

RAHM FURY OVER WHOLE EPISODE

The Ryder Cup is golf’s pre-eminent team event in an overwhelmingly individual sport, bringing together 12-member teams from the United States and Europe every two years for the three-day event.

Colin Montgomerie, speaking before Stenson was stripped of his role, told Sky Sports that being captain of the Ryder Cup team was the “greatest honour that can be bestowed on any European Tour player”.

Padraig Harrington, whom Stenson replaced as skipper, said he wished his former European teammate had waited until after the 2023 tournament to move to LIV.

Despite his disappointment, Harrington sounded upbeat, telling Sky: “He has given us plenty of time. Fifteen months is loads of time for us to get somebody in place, to get a feel for what they’re doing and it won’t interfere at all.”

But former European captain Tony Jacklin, who twice led the team to victory, has warned that the Ryder Cup could be badly damaged.

“The way things stand right now, next year’s Ryder Cup is just going to be a nonsense,” the two-time major winner wrote in the Telegraph.

“The whole sorry saga is a real mess and the only way it’s going to be settled is through the courts,” he added.

Spain's Sergio Garcia is likely to miss the Ryder Cup after confirming his intentions to quit the DP World Tour.

Former world No. 1 Jon Rahm expressed his anger over the situation at last week’s British Open after his fellow Spaniard Garcia confirmed his intentions to quit the DP World Tour, a move that would end his chances of playing in the Ryder Cup.

“The Ryder Cup is the reason why my family and I began to play this sport and the reason why many others play golf,” Rahm said.

“For what is happening to mean that the best player Europe has had (Garcia) can’t play is something I find hard to understand and process.

“The event which gives golf most publicity all over the world is the Ryder Cup and that for this nonsense players like him can’t play it, that angers me even more.”

Hometown star to return for summer of golf

As the world’s most affluent tours scrap over the signatures of golf’s biggest names, Australia has landed a blow of its own. Lucas Herbert, the world No.52 with a bullet, has confirmed he will return home at the end of the year to play in the Australian Open and PGA.

Herbert, fresh from a top 15 finish at the Open championship, will pursue his first big title on home soil when he competes in the PGA at Royal Queensland in late-November and then the Open at Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath in Melbourne in early-December.

Australian officials attended the Open Championships at St Andrews last week where it is understood they held high-level talks with some of the country’s best players. While all the focus was on LIV Golf and Greg Norman’s rebel tour raids on the sport’s elite, Australian powerbrokers snuck under everyone’s guard to secure Herbert for the Open and PGA.

Lucas Herbert in action at the British Open. Herbert will return to Australia at the end of the year to play in the Australian Open and PGA. Picture: AFP

He is expected to be the first of a slew of announcements in coming months as officials focus on bringing Australia’s best and brightest home for the tournaments at the end of the year.

“I am definitely looking forward to the trip home,” Herbert said.

“I have been fortunate to spend most of the season in the United States and I certainly miss being home in Australia with my family and friends.

“I also really enjoy playing golf in Australia and am greatly looking forward to that as well. Australian golf is so important to me and to be able to win at home is something I have always dreamed of doing – it is a huge goal of mine.

“It has been at the end of a long year, and I’ve wanted to come back and support Australian golf. To be able to put the same amount of focus and effort at the end of the year is difficult.

“I am putting more preparation into it this year and am hoping to win one if not both of these events.”

Herbert is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour as well as a winner on the US PGA Tour in 2021. Misfortune and the pandemic have prevented him adding an Australian title to the mix - his best finish was at the Australian Open in 2017 when he led through two rounds and ended up in the final group with Jason Day on the last day, only to finish sixth behind Cam Davis.

Lucas Herbert is a two time winner on the DP World Tour and has also won on the US PGA Tour. Picture: Getty Images

His last appearance in a top-tier event on home soil was in 2019 at the Australian PGA, where he finished well out of the running. Arguably his greatest impact in Australia has been off the course where he has agreed to return a significant sum to grass roots golf as part of the Give Back program, which is designed to help the country’s next group of elite juniors.

“I have certainly come a long way on my golfing journey, but I wouldn’t say I am anywhere near my full potential,” he said.

“On the course my goal is to win every event I play in and hopefully someday win a major. Off the course, I am happy with the work I have been able to do with the Give Back program in Australia and look forward to continuing support of golf all over the world.”

Freshly-minted Open champion Cameron Smith, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman are among the other big names expected to follow suit when it comes to returning home at the end of the year.

“This is great news about Lucas coming home again,” PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman said.

“He’s become a world-class player and we’re delighted with what he’s done on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, winning on both continents.”

Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland added: “Lucas is a great success story for golf in this country.

“He’s graduated from country Victoria to the state High Performance programs to become a really confident and competitive professional player with wins on both sides of the world.”

Golf civil war turns nasty as Shark harpooned by old text

- Robert Craddock

The sniping is getting personal in the great golf war but Australian officials remain quietly confident star drawcard Cameron Smith will be seen on home soil next summer.

Newly crowned British Open champion Smith is believed to be the prime target of Greg Norman’s rebel LIV golf troupe, which has just bolstered its ranks by plucking Swede Henrik Stenson, immediately axed as Ryder Cup captain.

As Smith weighs up a LIV offer reported to be more than $100 million, the verbal — and digital — war between the establishment and the rebel band continues to intensify.

Earlier this week Norman branded former touring professional and golf analyst Brandel Chamblee a “talking bobblehead’’for his relentless attacks on LIV, in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record.

Greg Norman with Cameron Smith, who is believed to be the prime target of Norman’s rebel LIV golf troupe.

Chamblee has fired back by releasing a private text message sent to him by Norman which read “keep being you and call it the way you see it … refreshing”.’

The date of the message — and the issue it was referring to — was not revealed as Chamblee posted it on Twitter and added “funny how when I “call it like I see it’’ about LIV, it’s not so refreshing to Greg”.

Meanwhile, Australian golf officials feel that even if Smith does sign with the LIV golf he may be able to compete in the Australian PGA championship at Royal Queensland from November 24-27 and the Australian Open in Melbourne from December 1-4.

The undated text exchange between Greg Norman and Brandel Chamblee which the golf analyst released after their recent fallout.

The LIV players have been banned by the USPGA tour and have copped a three-tournament ban from the DP World (European) Tour.

An issue for Australian golf is that it has declared its support to the traditional tours — which are becoming increasingly aligned in a bid to repel the LIV threat — but that does not mean it would be prepared to turn its back on Smith if he joined Norman’s band.

The Australian PGA is co-sanctioned by the DP World tour but there is still a feeling that it may be Australia’s decision rather than that DP Tour’s whether LIV players can play this summer.

By the time the Australian summer arrives the landscape may have changed considerably and the warring parties may be deeper in the trenches but every effort will be made to ensure Smith returns to Australia.

At Smith’s home club Wantima on Monday, his close mates celebrating his British Open win were already talking about watching him play at Royal Queensland — they feel he will return this year if at all possible.

Australia’s golf circuit has been devastated by Covid in recent seasons. It is desperate for rejuvenation and the prospect of Smith playing at Royal Queensland is seen as the giant step needed to give the Australian tour a pulse again.