Ryder Cup 2023: Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter resign from DP World Tour to end Team Europe opportunities

Team Europe won’t be able to call on three of its most experienced players at the 2023 Ryder Cup after Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia made themselves ineligible by resigning from the DP World Tour.

Richard Bland also stepped down on Wednesday, after all four players had received sanctions for joining the breakaway LIV Golf tour.

The four players’ resignations mean they will be unable to compete against the United States at golf’s flagship event, the Ryder Cup, in Rome in September.

“The DP World Tour would like to take this opportunity to thank the four players for the contribution they have made to the Tour, and in particular to Sergio, Ian and Lee for the significant part they have played in Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup over many years,” said a DP World Tour statement.

“Their resignations, however, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.”

The statement also said that the four players had been ‘sanctioned for serious breaches of the Tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulation’ after featuring in the maiden LIV Golf event in England last summer.

Garcia, Westwood and Poulter are decorated Ryder Cup veterans; Garcia is Europe’s all-time record points scorer and Westwood holds the record for most matches played with 11.

The three players have played in a combined 28 Ryder Cups and Westwood served as Europe’s vice-captain in a victory at Le Golf National in 2018.

But their decision to join the lucrative but controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, and their subsequent failed appeals against a £100,000 fine received for playing at the opening tournament without permission, has cost them the chance to compete at this year’s event in Italy.

“As we have consistently maintained throughout the past year, the Tour has a responsibility to its entire membership to administer the member regulations which each player signs up to. These regulations are in place to protect the collective interests of all DP World Tour members,” the statement continued.

“The independent panel appointed by Sport Resolutions recognised this, determining that our Conflicting Tournament Regulation and its application in the circumstances did not go beyond what was necessary and proportionate to the Tour’s continued operation as a professional golf tour and that we have a legitimate interest in protecting the rights of our full membership by enforcing it.”

The Ryder Cup, which takes place every two years, will be held at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome from September 29 to October 1.