Ryder Cup legend Nick Faldo believes LIV Golf rebels should be banned from the Ryder Cup.
The six-time Major winner and 11-time Ryder Cup player believes European players who have joined the Saudi-backed league should be ineligible to play in the biennial event or take up captaincy roles.
“They shouldn’t be there because they’ve gone off and you’ve got to move on,” Faldo told Sky Sports.
“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.”
Faldo added there should be no way back for Ryder Cup stars such as Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood or Martin Kaymer.
“They’re done,” he said. “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 your picture won’t still be on the wall. You’ve moved on. Fine, off you go.
“They 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’.”
Faldo dismissed the LIV Golf League as “meaningless” with 46-man fields playing 54-hole events with many of the players enjoying multi-million contracts to tee it up.
“It’s a closed shop: 48 guys given loads of money,” Faldo said.
“What gripes me is it’s not growing the game of golf. That really gets me when they fly across the world to a country that’s been playing golf for 100 plus years and say, ‘We’re growing the game of golf’.
“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.”
The Englishman described LIV’s efforts as akin to deliberately antagonising the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
Faldo went on to slam CEO Greg Norman, who led Faldo by six shots heading into the final round of the 1996 Masters but shot 78 to his 67 to lose by five strokes to the Englishman.
“He was a great golfer. He really was a charismatic, exciting golfer and he’s absolutely wrecked all of that,” Faldo said.
Source : Independent
