Can the Ryder Cup Be Used to Help Bring Men’s Pro Golf Back Together?

Ironically, one of the fiercest competitions in the professional golf world could be used as a bargaining chip to bring the splintered sport back together.

LIV Golf member Paul Casey suggests using the Ryder Cup as an “olive branch” to help bring both sides – LIV and the PGA Tour – back together.

Casey was on the “Are You Not Entertained?” podcast and talked about new DP World Tour boss Guy Kinnings, whose previous job was in a management position with the Ryder Cup.

Casey said:

“He knows that event transcends golf. Hopefully, that’s the one – the olive branch we can use to bring this all back together. We are there to try to win a Ryder Cup, and you’re proud to put the sweater on. We know that a home Ryder Cup in Europe pays for the following three years on the DP World Tour. We’re fully aware of that. We know the economics. It’s quite scary, really, but it’s never been a question.”

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For the final episode in our series “The Bucket List”, we are joined by English golfer @Paul_Casey

A former world number 3, winner on the @DPWorldTour,@PGATOUR, 5 @rydercup and now on the @livgolf_league

— Are You Not Entertained? (@EntertainedAre) March 21, 2024

European players who joined LIV were barred from the 2023 Ryder Cup, but U.S. players were eligible due to a technicality. Brooks Koepka – who nearly automatically qualified due to his PGA Championship win – was a captain’s pick by Zach Johnson. 

But after Jon Rahm joined LIV last December, Rory McIlroy said that the sides need to find a way for worthy LIV golfers to take part in the event.

Casey said that would motivate more players to get interested in a deal that would bring the sides together, amid negotiations between PGA Tour Enterprises board members and reps from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). 

Casey added:

“If you look at the membership, there’s an awful lot of guys just struggling, trying to keep their tour cards on various tours, guys who are just not interested in the politics and then guys at the top who make a difference, but they have to be motivated. Currently, there’s no motivation for that change.”

Paul Casey on how leadership has handled the emergence of LIV and why there is still no solution to the divide:

“The guys who made an early move to LIV, they saw the writing on the wall, the horse had already bolted. This was happening with or without us to be honest.”

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) March 21, 2024

While there’s no timetable for a potential deal, PIF governor Yassir Al-Rumayyan met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Tiger Woods, and other players who make up the PGA Tour policy board on Monday in the Bahamas.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine