Ryder Cup 'Shouldn't Be Used As A Bargaining Chip' - Lee Westwood

Lee Westwood conceded that his days of playing in the Ryder Cup are over but the LIV Golfer admitted he still holds out hope of becoming a Ryder Cup captain one day.

Westwood was one of the first raft of players to jump ship and join LIV Golf when the Saudi-backed series held its first event in London last year.

However, the former World No.1 has faced punishments with the Englishman eventually relinquishing his DP World Tour membership this May after a court case concluded that LIV Golfers could be fined by the tour for going against conflicting event releases and playing in LIV Golf and LIV-backed Asian Tour events.

Without his membership on the DP World Tour, at present, his chances of becoming a Ryder Cup captain in the future look slim. But Westwood has not given up hope.

Speaking to TalkSport, he said: “At the age of 50, I think I’m probably too old to play Ryder Cups. You definitely aren’t going to get 36 holes a day out of me.

“Clearly I would like to be Ryder Cup captain at some stage, but I’m of the opinion that the Ryder Cup should be the best 12 players in Europe against the best 12 players from America. 

“It shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip to make people play on certain tours and encourage people to play on certain tours.”

However, following last month’s shock announcement of a framework deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudia Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), who bankroll LIV Golf,  there may well be a route back for Westwood onto the former European Tour. 

But the 50-year-old says it’s too early to make any firm decisions on a return. “If the options were right for me to play DP World Tour events then I would probably rejoin, if the rules change slightly, if they didn’t then I’m happy where I am,” he said.

Westwood, alongside former Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia, will be some of the big names missing from this week’s Open Championship. Garcia missed out at final qualifying earlier in the month while Westwood opted not to attend meaning he will miss his first Open in 28 years.