Rory McIlroy unsure about Ian Poulter’s Ryder captaincy hopes

Rory McIlroy believes it will be difficult for Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood to be a future Ryder Cup captain because they no longer have a connection with Europe’s emerging stars after defecting to the LIV Golf League.

Poulter was a stalwart for Europe at Ryder Cups and typically saved his best performances for the team event, earning 16 points in seven appearances.

Now playing on the LIV Golf circuit, Poulter said in a recent interview with Al Arabiya English that he would relish the opportunity to be captain of the European team — even if that was currently not possible because he resigned his European tour membership after joining LIV Golf. Henrik Stenson was removed as captain of the European team for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome after the Swedish golfer moved to LIV in 2022.

McIlroy said players such as Poulter and Westwood would struggle to reintegrate themselves after an unsavory split from the European tour and pointed to current Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald’s efforts to bond with the team’s best players before last year’s matches against the United States.

“You look at what Luke has done the last few years. He’s really made an effort to come over. He played in the Czech Republic. He was in Switzerland,” McIlroy said Wednesday, speaking ahead of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. “He’s making an effort to be around the players and make the players feel comfortable with him, the up-and-comers that haven’t had a chance yet to be on a team or trying to make a team.

“With the guys that left, Poulter, Westwood, how can these young up-and-comers, you know, build a rapport with them when they are never here? You can’t see them. I think that’s a really important part of a Ryder Cup and a Ryder Cup captaincy.”

McIlroy said he didn’t deny Poulter has the “credentials” to be a Ryder Cup captain, given his passion for the event and past results.

“But I just think with the current state of where everything is, you need someone that’s around and showing their face as much as they can,” McIlroy said of the LIV Golf defectors. “Right now, that honestly just can’t be them because they are elsewhere.”

Jon Rahm, another player who joined LIV Golf, retains a chance to be considered for next year’s Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black after formally appealing the European tour sanctions against him for playing on the LIV circuit. That allows him to keep playing on the European tour and reach the minimum four starts required to stay eligible for the Ryder Cup.

McIlroy said Rahm is “following the rules” and would be “a wonderful addition to the European team” given the way he is playing in LIV Golf.

Rahm won the individual title in his first season with LIV Golf.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.