Padraig Harrington has had big success as both a player and captain in the Ryder Cup and he’s now had his say on what he wants to see in the future when it comes to the players on the LIV Golf side of things.
As we all know, the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia effectively ousted themselves from contention by joining LIV.
However, Garcia is now paying his fines and is making a run at things for the 2025 team, albeit Poulter has said he’s no intention of paying his fines to get back involved.
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But discussing the return of LIV players on the Beyond the Clubhouse podcast, former Team Europe skipper Padraig Harrington has claimed there might be another underlying reason why LIV players are being kept away.
Padraig Harrington claims LIV players are being purposely held back from Ryder Cups
Speaking about the potential to see LIV players in future Ryder Cups, Harrington admitted he wanted to see European legends like Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood back in the mix and insisted that those two – as well as Garcia – are future captains.
However, while he wants them back, Harrington admitted there could be a ploy at play which sees more LIV v PGA Tour competition in the future.
“I’m delighted that the guys are back and I’d like to see Poulter and Lee [Westwood] back as well. You know, these guys are future captains,” Harrington said.
“Sergio played well so in his head he’s a future player too and there’s nothing stopping him. In terms of captaincy’s though, I’d like to see these guys back for sure. I think there’s an unknown in this, I don’t know if they’ve done this strategically but if we keep the LIV players outside the Ryder Cup, there’s a chance we could see a match of LIV v the PGA Tour and that would undermine the Ryder Cup.
“But if someone came in with $100m, ten guys from LIV, ten from the PGA Tour. What if the next Showdown was ten v ten, $10m each for the winners? You think you’d not get ten players turning up for $10m each? But it might undermine the Ryder Cup.”
How The Showdown was received by golf fans as Padraig Harrington suggests future matches
With The Showdown having huge names involved like Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, the assumption would be that it would go down a treat with golf fans.
However, viewership for The Showdown was poor, while some fans were disappointed in the event as a whole.
Still, it’s potentially set the bar or at least the idea for what Harrington is talking about here. A bigger match with more players and more on the line might be worth more, albeit if it’s all about money again, golf fans are likely to turn off.
However, a cup competition where the main aim is pride and getting one over the other Tour could well work.
As always, it’s going to be down to the powers that be in golf to make such a move happen.
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