European Ryder Cup hopeful skips crucial event: "It's bizarre"

Yannik Paul's decision to skip a DP World Tour event with the Ryder Cup looming has been described as 'bizarre' by one insider.

Ben Smith

17 Aug 2023

European Ryder Cup hopeful skips crucial event: "It's bizarre"

Ryder Cup hopeful Yannik Paul's decision to skip the ISPS Handa World Invitational on the DP World Tour has been described as 'bizarre'.

Per a report by James Corrigan of The Daily Telegraph, German Paul has decided not to play in this week's event at Galgorm Caste in Northern Ireland.

His decision to skip the tournament was even more curious given how close he is to Scotland's Bob MacIntyre on the European Points list.

The top three players on the European Points list earn a spot on Luke Donald's European side heading to Rome next month. Ditto the World Points list.

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Paul is currently in ranked fourth on the European Points list and trails MacIntyre by 90 points.

The Scot will have no doubt been licking his chops after seeing the news of Paul's withdrawal.

MacIntyre has made absolutely no secret of his desire to represent Ryder Cup Europe in his career.

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Paul's manager has issued a statement to the paper, saying although the Ryder Cup is a priority, his client is also targeting one of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer for DP World Tour players come the end of the 2023 campaign.

MacIntyre is also chasing one of the PGA Tour cards on offer.

His agent, Duncan Maxim, told the paper:

"I can see that other people might believe that Yannik should have maybe played ISPs and that maybe he could have shown a little bit more willing from the outside.

"But there are games within games at the minute. So we've got the Ryder Cup, which is naturally high up on Yannik's priority list, but he's also got the PGA Tour cards as well."

His manager also stated that Paul didn't want to be too fatigued given his busy schedule over the next few weeks.

The report also points to a Ryder Cup insider stating Paul's decision was 'bizarre'.

This is the first season that PGA Tour cards are on offer for players who finish inside the top-10 in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

The move has been heavily criticised by the likes of Lee Westwood. The Englishman has suggested the DP World Tour is nothing more than a 'feeder tour' to the PGA Tour.

For their part, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has defended the move, insisting the change is formulating a pathway to players that always existed.

As it stands, Victor Perez, Adrian Meronk, Min Woo Lee, Bob MacIntyre, Alexander Bjork, Thorbjorn Olesen, Joost Luiten, Pablo Larrazabal, Yannik Paul and Marcel Siem will receive their PGA Tour cards.

In other Ryder Cup news, European skipper Donald has named Francesco Molinari as his fifth and final Ryder Cup vice captain.

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