Stay up to date with the latest news surrounding the LIV Golf Tour controversy

LIV Golf has struck a major blow in its war with traditional tours, with Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson immediately sacked after signing with the rebel group.

Henrik Stenson has been sacked as Ryder Cup captain after joining the Liv Tour. Picture: Getty Images

Henrik Stenson has been sacked as the captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup team after accepting a lucrative offer to join LIV Golf, the Saudi-funded rebel tour, in what represents the biggest blow so far to the historic competition.

The 46-year-old Swede will earn a huge signing-on fee – far more than he could hope to make from sticking to the DP World Tour and the contracted commitment to the Ryder Cup that he has now broken.

Stenson’s signing-on fee could reach pounds 40 million ($67m AUD), according to reports, with the British player Eddie Pepperell posting on Twitter that the talk in the sport was of the world No 171 being paid “truly insane money”.

The European tour announced that Stenson’s captaincy of the 2023 team “has been brought to an end with immediate effect” after the collapse of talks this week. It did not mention LIV Golf in its short statement and said only that the move was due to “decisions made by Henrik in relation to his personal circumstances”.

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Henrik Stenson has been sacked as Ryder Cup captain after joining the Liv Tour. Picture: AFP Images

The financial temptations clearly proved too much for Stenson, who lost millions in investments with the Stanford Financial Group, which was closed down by the US authorities 13 years ago.

He had said in March that it was “beyond my wildest dreams” to follow in Seve Ballesteros’s footsteps by captaining Europe. Reports in Sweden have indicated that Stenson also hopes that his golf design company can land contracts in Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday Stenson issued a statement in which he said he disagreed with the decision to remove him from his role, given that LIV was prepared “to ensure I could fulfil the obligations of the captaincy”.

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

“Clearly a part of my decision to play in LIV Golf events has been commercially driven but the format, schedule and calibre of player were also significant factors.”

Luke Donald is one of the favourites to be named the new captain, having only narrowly been beaten to the honour by Stenson.

If appointed, he would be the first English captain of a Ryder Cup team since Sir Nick Faldo in 2008. Thomas Bjorn is regarded as another strong contender, because he has the experience of leading Europe’s rout of the US in 2018, as is Sweden’s Robert Karlsson.

Although players on the LIV tour can compete in the majors, it has been made clear that they will not be chosen for the Ryder Cup teams.

Stenson, who missed the cut at the Open Championship last week, is set to be named among the 48 players for the next round of the LIV tour, which is to be played at the Bedminster course in New Jersey, owned by Donald Trump.

Stenson in action during the 2016 Ryder Cup. Picture: AFP Images

LIV is expected to announce the final three names for the line-up on Thursday. Cameron Smith, the Open winner, his fellow Australians Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, as well as Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, have all been linked with switches, though none of those would be involved in the Ryder Cup.

Ryder Cup Europe said that Stenson’s tenure as captain for the tournament, being held in September next year at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, “has been brought to an end with immediate effect”.

Stenson’s decision will cost him goodwill among those who believe that the Ryder Cup should be sacrosanct. The former European tour professional Rob Lee, now a pundit, told Sky Sports: “Henrik had an agreement with the tour that he would be their guy all the way through to the Ryder Cup next year, but if he reneges on that then he has decided his fate.

“As an Open champion and as the Ryder Cup captain he had a great legacy going on, especially with the mixed event he promoted with Annika Sorenstam. But he’s just flushing all that down the toilet by joining LIV. Fortunately the Ryder Cup is bigger than Henrik Stenson.”

In March, speaking after his appointment as captain, Stenson said: “Yes, the captain signs a contract. I am fully committed to the captaincy, Ryder Cup Europe and the job at hand, so we are going to keep busy with that and I’m going to do everything in my power to deliver a winning team in Rome.”

This article was originally published on The Times.

Originally published as Stay up to date with the latest news surrounding the LIV Golf Tour controversy