'I Don't Feel Like I've Given It Up' - Stenson On Being 'Removed' As Ryder Cup Captain

Henrik Stenson makes his LIV Golf debut this week following his time as Europe's Ryder Cup captain ending prematurely after joining the Saudi-backed series last week.

The Swede has opened up on his move to LIV and reiterated that he tried to remain as captain and made arrangements to do both but was "removed" as skipper by the DP World Tour.

"I don't feel like I've given it up," he said. "I made every arrangement possible here to be able to fulfil my captain's duties, and I've had great help here from LIV to be able to do that. And still, the decision was made that I was to be removed. I'm obviously disappointed over the situation. But it is what it is, and yeah, we move on from there now.

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"We had discussions and I informed them of the decision to go and play in LIV tournaments. They had a short period of time where they were kind of discussing or debating if what was going to happen, and I was informed of their decision shortly after."

The 2016 Open champion says he expects to be treated fairly going forwards and is waiting to hear from Ryder Cup Europe over whether he, and the other Europeans in LIV, can continue to take part in the match either as vice captains or players. He also called the current situation with the divide between LIV and the PGA/DP World Tours as "a shame".

"I just expect to be treated fairly going forward depending on what the outcomes are in this whole case, and that is yet to be seen what decisions are to be made and when we will be notified of anything like the boys are saying here, qualification and vice captaincies and all the rest," he said. "So up until that point, we just wait for European Tour and Ryder Cup Europe to make those announcements.

"I obviously feel like it's a shame that we ended up in this situation, and I just hope that we can get a resolution as soon as possible here for all tours and everyone involved, and we can all kind of co-exist together. Yeah, all the players love The Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Yeah, it's just a shame we ended up in this situation. I hope for a quick solution."

The 46-year-old also confirmed that his decision to join LIV was a financial one, admitting that money has always influenced his schedule as a professional since the late 90s.

"I'd say I've been a golf professional since very late 1998, and purse sizes, prize money on offer, financial part's always been a part of where we made up our schedules and where we are going to play," he said. "It's been a part of it, absolutely. It was no different in this case."

Stenson makes his LIV debut this week in Bedminster, where he competes as part of Majesticks GC alongside captain Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield.