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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Rory McIlroy has confirmed there are some European captains he would not play for at the Ryder Cup.
The world No 3 and European stalwart, who suffered heartbreak to finish second at last week’s Irish Open, starred in Europe’s win last year in Rome. And McIlroy spoke about a potential successor to Luke Donald, who will lead Europe at Bethpage Black next year.
It follows Ian Poulter’s declaration that he retains hopes of leading Europe in the future, despite lingering animosity following his move to LIV Golf.
“I’m hopeful one day there’s a sense of coming together that would enable the likes of myself… the opportunity to be able to become captain,” Poulter, who has secured 16 points from his seven Ryder Cup appearances, told Al Arabiya English.
“Let’s see what happens, there’s going to need to be some compromise. I’m hopeful one day we’ll see it.”
But McIlroy, while hesitating to reveal his views specifically on Poulter, insists he would struggle to play for certain captains.
“It’s such a grey area,” McIlroy said ahead of the BMW Championship at Wentworth. “There’s some that I would be OK with and others I wouldn’t be OK with. Sorry to put them all in the same bucket.”
McIlroy also highlighted the last remaining factors preventing a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, with the sport still divided.
“[It is the] Department of Justice. Maybe different interests from the players’ side,” McIlroy claimed when asked what separates the two parties still. “I’d say, it’s pretty similar. I’d say maybe half the players on LIV want the deal to get done; half probably don’t. I’d say it’s probably similar on the PGA Tour.
“Because just like anything, everyone’s looking out for themselves and their best interests. You know, it would benefit some people for a deal not to get done, but it would obviously benefit some people for a deal to get done.
“Yeah, I think there’s different opinions amongst the players about what should happen, and I think when you have a members’ run organisation, it complicates things a little bit, especially when should of those players are having to make decisions on the business side of things. So those are the two.
“I think the tours want it to happen. The investors certainly want it to happen because they can see the benefit for themselves. But right now, it’s DOJ and differing opinions of the players.”
