New Euro Tour CEO Indicates LIV Players Can Rejoin European Ryder Cup Team

Matt Adams breaks down comments by new DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings that spoke of a return to the fold for players sanctioned by the Tour for LIV Golf competition without release (players like Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, etc) who were barred from the 2023 European Ryder Cup team including the initial captain Henrik Stenson. Kinnings also spoke to the plans for the future of all Tours as golf’s landscape shifts.

so guy Kennings is the newly minted head of the DP World Tour and he met with a very small group of journalists he was talking about a number of different things he was talking about where the game is right now this is that thought that we have talked about a lot uh through through this forum where the game is absolutely booming on what I call the 99.99% part of the game that people actually fund the whole rest of the game gamees booming on that side but at its top competitive tiers it’s searching to find itself so we talked about that kind of dichotomy but more importantly to start here because I’ve been promising it to you through throughout the course of the show he spoke about the prospect of how players who have left the PGA Tour and left with rabit ear in in the air the DP World Tour to go to live can be a part of the European Ridder Cup team which is administered through the DP World Tour let his words uh explain it to you here and I’m quoting if you look at what the qualification eligibility criteria was for 2023 then I think there has been a slight misconception because the reality is under the current rules if a player is European and is a member of the DP world to abides by the rules as they currently are so if you don’t get a release there are sanctions and if you accept those sanctions and take those penalties and work with that there is is no reason why players who’ve taken Live membership but maintain membership with the DP World Tour could not a qualify or B be available for selection to be honest I think some people had said oh you’re going to have to change the rules and then came back and said actually I don’t think you do it’s not a loophole because that’s the rules we’ve ow always had and those are the rules that we going to continue to apply rules are for all of the membership and it’s important for people to know how those apply and they apply to every member so here is Guy kenning saying there is a pathway the pathway has always been there and it’s not a loophole what’s interesting to me about that is many of the players according to my sources many of the players who were and I guess you have to say are DP World Tour players have paid for the this the penalties or fines or sanctions they’ve done what they needed to do to maintain the status my understanding is uh and and I will double check this but my understanding is all of them except for Sergio Garcia are in that category predominantly so so that there is a pathway for the likes of John Rah to be able to play for the European writer Cup team right I I think it’s interesting that guy noted in particular that this isn’t a loophole that this has always existed and if that’s the case if it’s always existed I guess my first question there would be well how come we didn’t know about this before uh but maybe agendas are are changing as we move forward uh certainly from the perspective of the European Ryder Cup team I’m sure they’re delighted at the prospect of having some of those players back if they want them as to the other subject that we were talking about which is where the game is at right now and what needs to be done and now you’re talking about Liv golf you’re talking about the new entity with the PGA Tour PGA Tour Enterprises and the investment from the SSG Etc here’s what guy Kennings the CEO of the DP World Tour had to say about that he said you know this is the irony of what we’re facing right now GF is in such a really healthy state in so many metrics golf couldn’t be stronger you know participation levels interest whatever but until we get the solution of what is the future of the game it’s going to look like it’s kind of you have to that faint sense of it’s the elephant in the room in every conversation you could possibly have so from my perspective all I want to do is make sure we are as quickly as possible getting the right people around the table to talk about what can a future look like I don’t expect them to go in knowing all the answers there’s lots of things that have to get worked at what does the product look like probably from 2026 and Beyond what’s the pathway what does it mean for things but until you get into that room with the right people with the right intent and try to find a solution you’re never going to work out deal and at the end of the day this is what is needed right now as quickly as we can I was talking to the guys from the Strategic Sports Group and I said listen we’ve got to get together we’ve got to pull it all together and we’ve got to find the product that works it’s probably won’t be until 2026 and Beyond there and is good for the game something that fans like it works for everyone but at the end of the day it has got to be something that is appealing to them it’s got to work for all parties and everyone is going to have to do things that they don’t necessarily want to do a compromise but that’s what you have to do to strike a deal it won’t happen until we get everyone in a room together all right close quote from guy Kennings it’s an interesting perspective and it and it raises this question of what is a divide between the game that is so popular right now and where you have you know the chief executive for one of the major tours in the game saying well we have to decide what the future of the game is going to look like when it’s quite clear to me that the future of the game is in the hands of the people that are at the 99.99% level and they’re off and they’re having a great time it should that and is that concerning to golf leagues sure it should be so it it underscores the reason why they need to get together to work out what the path will be but I think it also illustrates the fact that the game of golf is not the leading tours competitively right it’s it’s a great stage for entertainment but I think in the in the past there’s been this obscurity at least uh not deliberately but a belief that the top of the game is what the best players in the world do and now I think we’re starting to realize that the game operates and the game exists independent of that as well so the whole is that the leagues can come together and the hope is that we can be entertained like we were this past weekend at the Zur classic I thought it was wildly entertaining which to me also underscores why I like full field events not limited field events Etc with no cut I like the full field events because you have the stories where you have brim and you have hubber and you have Fishburn and you have Blair teams like that very much in the mix right up against you know a marquee Stellar team like Rory mooy and Shane Lowry who ultimately were able to close the deal but all of these other teams were in the mix and I thought that was really really fun so I like the comments from guy kings because I think it’s promising and I think it’s good to hear from one of the chief Executives saying No this is what we need to do this is how we need to get together we need to figure this thing out uh I like the fact that they’re finding a pathway uh at least on the European side where they’re saying you know what even if you left we think you can benefit our team and there’s a way that we can get this done you you have to pay a price for what you’re doing uh in their formula but nonetheless there’s a a way that they can come back because that price that I was telling you about like he has to serve a suspension was one of the things that guy was saying U speaking specifically in terms of players like say Terell Hatton or John ROM but the suspension they they conserve would be for an event that they weren’t otherwise planning on being in follow me it’s it’s a European Tour event and okay well even if you want to you can’t play in it you’re suspended or you could look at it the other way and saying did they want to but nonetheless you’re suspended so that’s how that goes