With the majors now completed and both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf seasons winding down, attention continues to slowly turn towards the Ryder Cup in the golf world
The professional golf season is nearing its conclusion after Scottie Scheffler claimed the final major of the year at The Open. But there’s still more action on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf this week.
Scheffler and most of his closest rivals have opted to skip the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, but LIV UK will feature all of their big hitters like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm – who you won’t be seeing competing on YouTube anytime soon.
And of course, one eye is now on the Ryder Cup, which is just two months away. Here, Mirror Sport rounds up the latest golf headlines from around the world.
Lee Westwood’s rankings rant
It was a good week for Lee Westwood at Royal Portrush. The English veteran finished T34 on three under, which shot him up a remarkable 3,579 places in the Official World Golf Ranking to No. 930.
LIV stars like himself still don’t earn ranking points outside of the majors, Asian Tour and DP World Tour, with the league’s latest application currently under review. Rather than celebrate his climb, Westwood, who had to go through a qualifier to make The Open, took the chance to express his frustrations.
“I think that just proves that without world ranking points, it makes a bit of a mockery of the system,” he said. “I think mainly it relates back to wanting the best players in the major championships, not wanting this conversation where there’s a few people missing out because we don’t get world ranking points on LIV.”
Jon Rahm’s take on YouTube golf
DeChambeau has done a great job of raising his profile on YouTube, where he now boasts over two million subscribers. But while Rahm is happy to appear in those sort of videos, he won’t be starting a channel of his own for fear of it taking away from the other priorities in his life.
“The main argument, and I can’t stress this enough, against doing it is that I just don’t think I would have the time to balance family, golf and YouTube,” the Spaniard explained. “I have three young kids – at some point I just don’t think I would have the time to do it.
“It would be too much of a sacrifice of either me practicing or family time. As of right now, that’s not something I’m willing to do. As of right now I’m perfectly happy appearing on channels.
“I’m perfectly happy playing with those guys and in a way getting exposed to their audience…. but I don’t know if I would yet find the energy in me to try to find the time to do a channel myself.”
Bryson DeChambeau forces intervention
For now, both Rahm and DeChambeau will be focusing on LIV’s latest stop at the JCB Golf & Country Club, whose sponsors have taken drastic action to stop the latter from wreaking too much havoc with his ridiculous drives.
With the American often topping 400 yards, JCB cranes holding up temporary netting have been placed at the end of the driving range to prevent any potential problems.
While it’s more so a promotional stunt, it did give golf fans a chuckle. It was also confirmed LIV will be hosted by JCB in the UK again next year.
Ian Poulter’s Ryder Cup warning
DeChambeau has already kicked off the Ryder Cup mind games, warning Team Europe they’ll be facing a “tsunami” of American support at Bethpage Black and promising to “get in Rory McIlroy’s ear” if they’re pitted against one another.
And Ian Poulter is conscious that the home advantage could be a major factor, with the five-time Ryder Cup winner issuing a warning for captain Luke Donald. He told Sky Sports: “Away Ryder Cups are notoriously difficult.
“It’s the same when they come to our home soil too. Home advantage is a big factor. Luke has got a venue in Bethpage Black that is going to be very loud, very raucous. We’ve had numerous events at that location in the past, so they certainly know what they are going to be in for.”
Sergio Garcia’s captaincy admission
As for the 2031 Ryder Cup, Spain will host for the second time in history, it was confirmed this week. That will be particularly poignant for Team Europe legend Sergio Garcia.
While his current focus is on making Donald’s team for this year, the LIV star admitted that taking the captaincy reins off of him in the future would be something he’d relish.
Speaking just 48 hours before the Ryder Cup’s return to his homeland was confirmed, Garcia said: “I don’t want to think about it yet, but it’s something that obviously would be a nice thing, a nice honour to have. I really don’t want to think about that right now. I’ve got my mind on other things.”
