Rory McIlroy: LIV stars will miss Ryder Cup more than we’ll miss them

Rory McIlroy believes those former Ryder Cup stars who have defected to LIV Golf will be regretting their decisions.

The Northern Irishman told his pre-event conference at Marco Simone it would only now be hitting home to those who chose the Saudi-backed tour that they weren’t involved in the huge biennial event.

Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia – a sextet who have made a combined 42 appearances and scored 92.5 points – have all lost out on the chance to be in Rome after signing up to LIV and resigning their DP World Tour memberships.

Garcia, the all-time record points scorer in the competition, was reportedly denied a last-gasp attempt to qualify for this year’s Ryder Cup.

But not only did McIlroy argue they would now be realising the impact of their choice, he said he didn’t believe Luke Donald’s team would miss them that much.

“It’s certainly a little strange not having them around,” he said. “I think this week of all weeks, it’s going to hit home with them that they are not here.

“I think they are going to miss being here more than we’re missing them. It’s just more, I think, this week is a realisation that the decision that they made has led to not being a part of this week, and that’s tough.”

McIlroy added: “The landscape in golf is ever-changing and more dynamic, and we’ll see what happens and whether they will be part of it in the future. I always thought leading up to this week is when it’s going to hit home that they are not going to be here.”

Justin Rose knows more than most about the impact those European exiles could have had – having been involved in numerous winning teams and helped by his fearsome foursomes partnership with sacked captain Henrik Stenson.

But the 2013 US Open champion looked at the positive side of having young blood in the team this week.

“Obviously Westy [Lee Westwood], Poults [Ian Poulter] as captains or vice-captains or however they may or may not be involved in the future do have a lot to offer,” Rose said.

“But the more we can kind of blood the younger generation coming through, the quicker you’re going to kind of skip through that transition phase.

“Maybe the transition started last time around at Whistling Straits and now we’re coming through that already.”

Brooks Koepka will be the only LIV golfer who will feature this week in Rome, with captain Zach Johnson picking the five-time major champion for the United States team.

Will Team Europe miss those LIV defectors at the 2023 Ryder Cup? Who will win, Team Europe or Team USA? Let us know what you think with a post on X, formerly Twitter!