Matt Fitzpatrick 'Not Bothered' If LIV Golf Players Make Ryder Cup Team

Matt Fitzpatrick says he's "not bothered" if LIV Golf players feature on this year's European Ryder Cup team despite strong opposition from the likes of Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy has insisted that "I don't think any of those guys should be on the Ryder Cup team" but the reigning US Open champion just wants the strongest team possible for Europe.

"It might be some players from other places in the world," Fitzpatrick said of Luke Donald's Team Europe in an interview with Sky Sports.

"I think there definitely are a few personal relationships that have been dented by this [the LIV vs PGA Tour civil war]. I'm not bothered, I just want to win, and I'm sure those boys do too."

Fitzpatrick has played in two Ryder Cups - 2016 and 2021 - where last time out he partnered fellow Yorkshireman and close friend Lee Westwood, now at LIV Golf, in the foursomes.

He also partnered Westwood's fellow LIV player Henrik Stenson at Hazeltine in 2016, with the Swede highly unlikely to feature in any capacity this year after being ousted as captain when he joined LIV Golf.

"It was a tough one because he had started gearing up for Rome, making notes and putting plans together," Fitzpatrick said of the Ice Man, who lasted just 127 days as captain. "And then it's like, 'sorry, lads, I'm off.'"

One player the Englishman thinks Europe would miss is the Ryder Cup's all-time points scorer Sergio Garcia, who has taken himself out of consideration for the event after failing to meet his DP World Tour card criteria for not playing the minimum number of tournaments or a single event in Spain last season.

“I honestly don't know,” Garcia told Marca regarding if his Ryder Cup options are still zero. “First because I didn't play the minimum number of tournaments last year and I don't think I can qualify. But as I said at the time, I don't know if I want to be part of the team.”

The Spaniard also said some members of the European side "have shown very little class."

"Sergio would be the one that would stand out for me, particularly," Fitzpatrick told Sky Sports.

"I don't know the details of [his relationship with McIlroy]. I'm happy to share a room with him, if that's going to be the case, I can corner him off for everyone else."

Fitzpatrick also doesn't seem to have an issue with the start-up tour itself, but more with players who continue to use the DP World Tour as a place to earn world ranking points. The likes of Abraham Ancer and Talor Gooch received criticism for playing in the BMW PGA Championship despite never really supporting the DP World Tour previously, for example.

"As long as you go and don't come back, I don't have an issue," he said. "Go take the money, go play wherever you want, I could not care less, just don't come back and then take spots from other guys that want to play.

"I understand that there's the likes of Westy, Poulter and Sergio that have played a lot in Europe over the years and have done their bit, and they have. I can't ever knock them for that, they've done way more than I have for the European Tour."

Fitzpatrick makes his 2023 debut at Kapalua this week in the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The elevated purse tournament features a $15m prize pool and a total of 17 of the world's top 20 players. Rory McIlroy is skipping the event, after it was revealed that players are allowed to miss one of the newly-mandated elevated purse tournaments that were introduced in retaliation to the LIV Golf threat.