'It's a Shame': Rory McIlroy Takes No Joy in Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood Resigning From DP World Tour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rory McIlroy has made no secret of his disdain for LIV Golf, taking a leadership role on the PGA Tour and spending a good part of the past year pushing for changes in the wake of LIV’s threat.

But McIlroy took no pleasure in the news that former European Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia had resigned their memberships.

The DP World Tour announced that the trio, along with Richard Bland, had done so after a U.K. arbitration panel ruled last month that the tour was within its rights to enforce sanctions against players who violated conflicting events rules in order to compete in the first LIV Golf event last year in London.

"I think it’s a shame, right?" McIlroy said after opening the Wells Fargo Championship with a 68 on Thursday. "I think it's a shame that you've got the highest points-scorer ever in the Ryder Cup and two guys that when they look back on their career, that's probably going to be at least a big chunk of their legacy is the roles that they have played in the Ryder Cup for Europe.

"For those three guys to not captain Europe one day, it's a shame."

Garcia set the record in 2021 for most points earned by a European player and Westwood holds the record for most matches played. Poulter was considered a clutch performer for the team. The trio combined to play in 28 Ryder Cups, with Westwood first competing in 1997, Garcia in 1999 and Poulter in 2004.

Europe won Ryder Cups in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018.

McIlroy has been part of every European Ryder Cup team starting with the 2010 victory in Wales.

Because Ryder Cup participation is contingent on being a member of the DP World Tour, any of their unlikely bids to participate this year in Rome are now gone.

The biggest consequence is a future captaincy, for which all would have been a lock, along with other LIV golfers such as Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and Henrik Stenson, who was to be the captain this year before the DP World Tour took the position away after he joined LIV Golf. Luke Donald replaced him.

"But as the DP World Tour said in their statement, at the end of the day that was their choice and they knew that these were potentially going to be the consequences of those choices and of those actions, and here we are," McIlroy said. "Yeah, it's certainly a shame."

The statement announcing their resignations thanked the players for their contributions to the Ryder Cup.

"Their resignations, however, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices," the DP World Tour said. "As we have consistently maintained throughout the past year, the Tour has a responsibility to its entire membership to administer the member regulations which each player signs up to. These regulations are in place to protect the collective interests of all DP World Tour members."

After DP World Tour members played in the first LIV event last June, the DP World Tour did not rescind memberships but fined each player £100,000. LIV Golf said it would pay the fines but future penalties were sure to be imposed as they kept playing in conflicting events.

Westwood recently turned 50 and Poulter and Garcia have run out of exemptions into the major championships.

They are scheduled to play in LIV Golf’s next event next week in Tulsa, Okla.