LIV Golfers: By prohibiting LIV Golf members from participating as team representatives in the competition, Bryson DeChambeau feels that the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup are only “hurting themselves.”
All LIV Golfers that participated in the breakaway competition have been placed on indefinite suspension by the PGA Tour; this prohibition extends to the selection of the United States team for the upcoming Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.
DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka all played a part in Team USA’s historic Ryder Cup victory last fall, but they won’t be able to play in 2023. Patrick Reed is another player who won’t be eligible for selection.
“I personally think that the team events are only hurting themselves by not allowing us to play, not allowing us to qualify through some capacity, in some facet,” DeChambeau said ahead of the latest LIV Golf event in Chicago.
DeChambeau intends to closely monitor events at the Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina despite his compelled absence as Team USA seeks a seventh straight triumph in the biennial Presidents Cup competition.
“I’m a golf fan, first and foremost,” he said. “I’m going to watch golf wherever it’s played with some of the best players in the world, whoever it is. I think down the road that’ll change.
“I think that this will become something special, even more special than what it is now, and moving forward in the future, I’ll still watch other tournaments that I’ve won and done well at before.”
DeChambeau, the former US Open champion, is one of the LIV Golf members who filed an antitrust complaint against the PGA Tour to contest their suspensions. DeChambeau is still optimistic about returning to the PGA Tour in the future.
“Well, with the lawsuit, that’s an ongoing investigation. I cannot comment on that. I’m sorry. I wish I could,” DeChambeau added. “But I would say from a team aspect, it is sad that those governing bodies have not allowed us to be able to qualify. That’s all I can say to that.
