U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson casts doubts on LIV golfers’ hopes for 2023 occasion

United States Ryder Cup staff captain Zach Johnson has warned American golfers on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Worldwide Sequence that they is probably not picked for subsequent 12 months’s matches in Italy.

A complete of 17 gamers had been suspended by the PGA Tour forward of the LIV’s inaugural occasion in St. Albans, England earlier this month. Some gamers, together with two-time main winner Dustin Johnson, selected to resign their membership from the tour, which means they’re not eligible to compete in tour occasions or the President’s Cup.

Additional gamers, together with Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, have since joined LIV Golf, which is able to host its first occasion within the U.S. in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday.

Talking at a information convention forward of the John Deere Traditional at TPC Deere Run, Zach Johnson was requested in regards to the problem of creating captain’s picks for the 2023 Ryder Cup.

“So what I do know is that this: As a way to play on the Ryder Cup staff whether or not you are high six or a choose, you need to garner Ryder Cup factors by the PGA of America,” Johnson stated. “As a way to garner Ryder Cup factors by the PGA of America, it’s important to be a member of the PGA of America. The way in which that we’re members of the PGA of America is thru the PGA Tour. I will allow you to join the dots from there.”

Johnson, a 12-time winner on tour and two-time main champion, pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour however stated he nonetheless has respect for golfers who’ve defected.

“I acquired some associates which have determined to go that route,” he stated. “Plenty of people that I am for. I imply these are my associates. I am for them. I need them to do properly. I need them to, you realize, discover contentment or happiness in no matter it might be. It is not for me to say how that develops or how they discover that. I’ll say I’ve the utmost respect for them individually.”

Neither Workforce Europe captain Henrik Stenson nor the DP World Tour, previously referred to as the European Tour, have commented on how they’ll deal with the continuing subject forward of the following 12 months’s match.

Longtime Ryder Cup gamers Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia are among the many European golfers who’ve joined the LIV Sequence. Earlier this month, the DP World Tour fined defecting golfers £100,000 ($123,000) every and banned them from competing at three occasions co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour.

The 2023 Ryder Cup is scheduled to happen on the Marco Simone Golf and Nation Membership in Guidonia Montecelio, close to Rome.