Three LIV Golf players should have made US Ryder Cup team admits former captain
Former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger believes three LIV Golf players with proven pedigree and experience could have been the difference for Keegan Bradley's team in New York.
Former winning captain Paul Azinger is of the mindset that LIV Golf superstar and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka would have made a big difference to the result had he been on Keegan Bradley's 2025 Ryder Cup team.
Azinger, 65, also considers both LIV Golf's Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson were unfortunate not to have boarded a flight to New York as well.
Between Koepka, Reed and Johnson, you have eight major titles and 12 Ryder Cup appearances between them.
In the eyes of Azinger, who skippered the stars and stripes to victory at Valhalla in 2008, one of Bradley's biggest errors lied in his captain's picks.
Azinger claims he would have possibly divided his six picks into three PGA Tour players and three LIV Golf players.
Related:
Koepka, Reed and Johnson have not particularly had their best stuff on LIV Golf this season, but Azinger thinks experience counts on the big stage.
As it turned out, Bryson DeChambeau was the only LIV Golf player on Bradley's Team USA - but he made the team automatically based on his impressive performances in the majors.
DeChambeau was one of three LIV Golf players in total at the 2025 Ryder Cup as Luke Donald's Europe, who went on to win 15-13, had Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm on their team.
Azinger said on Golf’s SubPar podcast:
"I feel like once we dipped into the well on LIV, we probably should have brought five times major winning (Brooks) Koepka who won the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
"Then maybe pick Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson. If you are going to dip into the LIV pool and pull Bryson."
Azinger added:
"I would have really probably pulled Koepka.
"There is no way Koepka is not going to man up and play great this Ryder Cup, but they did not.
"But Europe did not have a problem bringing Rahm and Hatton, they play for the Smashers over there on the LIV Tour, so they are already teammates. That was a brilliant pair and a brilliant pick, Luke did everything right.”
It should be noted for reference that Hatton and Rahm play for Legion XIII, not the Smashers as that's not even a team.
Smash GC is a team, however, and Koepka is the captain.
Azinger also labelled McIlroy something of a hypocrite following his antics at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Watch the full interview here:
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