Brokenhearted ex-Ryder Cup captain slams LIV Golf stars: "None showed any graciousness"

Paul McGinley says it has broken his heart that half of the European Ryder Cup team he captained showed no graciousness towards the DP World Tour after bolting for LIV Golf. 

The breakaway tour launched in June with a plethora of major champions, PGA Tour winners and ageing Ryder Cup stars.

But it remains to be seen whether the competition will return in 2027 after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in September.

LIV hopes to emerge from the ashes with new financiers at the helm next season following the withdrawal of Saudi Arabian funding.

But several notable players, including Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter, have confirmed they want no part of LIV's new era.

"I understand why they went to LIV and I think if I'd been in their position, I might have done the same," McGinley told The Times of London.

"In my view, going was not the biggest mistake.

"Their short-sightedness, in being critical of the DP World Tour as they departed, this was the problem.

"They burned their bridges as they crossed to the other side and a lot of people were offended by that.

"Half of the team I captained in the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles went to LIV. Half of them.

"Not one of them showed any graciousness to the Tour they were leaving. That broke my heart."

The aforementioned Garcia indicated earlier this week that he intends to return to the DP World Tour in 2027 in a bid to earn a place in the Ryder Cup team.

"I'm proud to call it home again," he said. 

Europe's record points scorer in the biennial competition also said he is keeping his options open about returning to the PGA Tour at some point.

Some DP World Tour members, including England's Eddie Pepperell, have criticised the Spaniard and accused the former Masters champion of lacking self-awareness.

Garcia is alleged to have "flown off the handle" on the range during the 2022 BMW International Open in Germany after learning the circuit had fined him £100,000 for playing in LIV Golf's inaugural event at Centurion.

He is said to have told other golfers they should have "taken the Saudi money", adding: "You're all f---ed."

He later resigned his membership, a decision that means he will not be able to hold any leadership position in the Ryder Cup under current rules.

Garcia was also involved in a heated confrontation with a PGA Tour rules official during the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship.

After receiving an unfavourable ruling, Garcia stated he "couldn't wait" to leave the tour.

"They're now trying to be more conciliatory," added McGinley.

"'Coming back to my home' is what Sergio wrote recently, but people remember what was said four years ago.

"Back then, if these guys had been getting good advice, they would have been told, 'You've got to leave it in the right way', because LIV might be here today, gone tomorrow.

"You may want to come back to the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour, so let's do this in a classy way, expressing some appreciation as you exit. They didn't do this."

McGinley said he had seen Garcia, Poulter and Lee Westwood over the past month.

"I saw Lee down at a senior event in Chart Hills, Kent," he said.

"I spoke to him for a good hour there. I saw Ian Poulter at the Walker Cup, his son, Luke, was playing, we had a 15-minute chat.

"And I saw Sergio at the Irish Open in Doonbeg.

"I say this again, I don't criticise them for the decision they made, but feel they just didn't do it in the right way."

McGinley said there was "only one player" who he believed had handled his departure from the DP World Tour correctly.

"That was Louis Oosthuizen," he said.

The former Open champion, now 44, also confirmed last month that he, too, is moving on from LIV.

McGinley added: "He wrote a letter to Keith Pelley, then the CEO, that was read out to the board.

"He talked about where he came from in South Africa, the opportunities he’d been given on the European Tour, and how he was able to move on to the PGA Tour from there.

"He said he was at a point in his career where he’s getting more injuries and how this was a huge amount of money that he couldn't turn down, but that he would leave the European Tour with a heavy heart.

"That letter was appreciated.

"I don't want this to be a hatchet job on the boys, I have relationships with them, but they made mistakes.

"We all make mistakes. Their view was so short-term.

"Their advisers needed to say, 'Hey, remember where you came from. You've been given a golden ticket at this point in your career, don't rub it in anyone's face, and don't think you can continue to play wherever you please after this."