Ryder Cup vice captain reveals details of warning chat to LIV Golf star

US Ryder Cup vice captain Davis Love III has revealed he pleaded with Talor Gooch not to play the inaugural LIV Golf event.

Ben Smith

03 Aug 2023

Ryder Cup vice captain reveals details of warning chat to LIV Golf star

United States Ryder Cup vice captain Davis Love III has revealed he warned Talor Gooch not to join LIV Golf last June.

Love revealed in an interview with Gabrielle Hergiz of SI he was strongly considering picking Gooch for the 2022 Presidents Cup side.

The United States romped to victory last September, beating the International side by five points.

Gooch wasn't in the side after he was suspended by the PGA Tour for joining LIV Golf events.

Love told SI:

"Talor Gooch, I flat out told him, I said 'look, I know what you're hearing, but if you hit that first drive at [LIV's London event], you're not playing on the Presidents Cup team and you're not going to be defending champion at the RSM Classic."

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Why Love was talking about Gooch was because he was previewing the forthcoming Ryder Cup.

Fred Couples already spilled the beans and revealed three players likely to head to Rome no matter their form over the final few weeks of the regular season.

But what about the LIV Golf players? Gooch was previously mocked for comparing the atmosphere at a breakaway tour event to the biennial dust-up.

"I can't imagine there's a hell of a lot of difference," he previously said as Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson appeared to stifle laughs.

Gooch said before LIV Golf's event just outside of London before the 2023 Open he didn't regret those comments.

Justin Thomas has now missed a 5th cut in his last 7 starts on the PGA Tour
Will he make the US Ryder Cup team?
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) July 28, 2023

He also revealed he hoped his Ryder Cup dream wouldn't be dashed by his decision to join the breakaway.

Whether or not he deserves a pick is up for debate. He'll chase his fourth win on the LIV tour this season when he tees it up at The Old White at The Greenbrier.

One man who will definitely be teeing it up in Italy is Brooks Koepka.

Love, who has been one of the harshest critics of LIV, said of Koepka: That is still evident in the way he talks.

He said of Koepka:

"For two weeks Brooks showed us 'Brooks Koepka.' But for the rest of the year, you don't know how to judge what he's doing.

"And current form—how do you judge from all the way back at the PGA until now? How do you judge how he's doing? But it's Brooks Koepka. And he rises to the occasion.”

Love, who has withdrawn from this week's Wyndham Championship, also revealed he thinks Dustin Johnson will be a future captain.

"He's the ultimate team player," Love said. "I said to Dustin [at Whistling Straits], 'I can't imagine a Ryder Cup team without you on it, and you're going to be Ryder Cup captain one day. Do you understand?'"

GolfMagic's writers have already predicted who they think will make each side.

Take a look here

What do you think? Who is in your team? Send us a Tweet or join us on Facebook.

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