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No decision has been made on whether LIV golfers will be allowed to represent Europe at the Ryder Cup, former captain Paul McGinley revealed.
McGinley, who is a director on the board of the European Tour Group, said the organisation is yet to make a final call on whether those playing in the Saudi-backed rebel league can play in Rome next year.
But should they be permitted, the governing body is expecting tension in the locker room between those defecting to the breakaway league and their counterparts remaining on the established circuits.
His admission came just a day after US captain Zach Johnson effectively shut the door on LIV players’ chances of being part of his team at Marco Simone.
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The PGA Tour has banned those playing in the breakaway league, meaning they are unable to earn Ryder Cup points – and Johnson confirmed they will also be ineligible for places as captain’s picks.
“This is an evolving situation as we all know. During the summer period a lot of things are going to happen between now and August when the qualification period will start.
“The European Tour will be observing that and Henrik Stenson will be observing it.
"As they say in the political world, it's a fluid situation"
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 30, 2022
Paul McGinley & Rob Lee look ahead to the Irish Open and discuss whether LIV golf players should be allowed to take part in the Ryder Cup. ⛳ pic.twitter.com/EGcgScHzVO
“We have a lot of issues going on that decisions have to be made on, and one of them is ‘should LIV players be allowed’.
“Zach Johnson has already gone very strongly and said they will not be playing on the American team.
“We haven’t made that decision yet; we’re going to monitor things over the next few months.”
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“There’s also the dynamic for the captain, if we do let them play, of trying to manage the situation where you have some players coming in from LIV and other players who will be resistant to them being in the team,” he added.
“It’s a fluid situation we will be monitoring over the summer period.”
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