At least one potential member of Europe’s Ryder Cup team for 2023 said he is willing to overlook the controversies of the past year in order to author a defeat of the United States.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick made a case to have Spain’s Sergio Garcia on the Europe Ryder Cup team despite the latter’s move to the Saudi-funded LIV tour in 2022.
The Ryder Cup will take place in Rome over the summer as Europe aims to avoid a loss to the United States on European soil for the first time since 1993.
“I think there definitely are a few personal relationships that have been dented by this,” Fitzpatrick said to Sky Sports News. “I’m not bothered, I just want to win, and I’m sure those boys do too.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, another likely player on Team Europe, has been critical of players making the move to LIV. But Team Europe, which is being led by captain Luke Donald, has not announced if it will proceed without LIV players.
Europe players who are in limbo include Garcia, as well as England’s Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. Henrik Stenson of Sweden was removed from his captain post after his move to LIV. The United States has elected to move on without LIV participants like Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed.
“Sergio would be the one that would stand out for me, particularly,” Fitzpatrick said in his view of the European team. “I don’t know the details of (his relationship with McIlroy). … I’m happy to share a room with him, if that’s going to be the case. I can corner him off for everyone else.”
The United States routed Europe in the most recent Ryder Cup in 2021 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. That event was delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that U.S. victory, Europe had won four of the previous five competitions, including three consecutive at one point.
While Fitzpatrick is willing to partner with LIV participants in order to bring a Ryder Cup title back to Europe, his compassion for those players has its limits.
“As long as you go (to LIV) and don’t come back, I don’t have an issue,” Fitzpatrick said to Sky Sports. “Go take the money, go play wherever you want, I could not care less, just don’t come back and then take spots from other guys that want to play.”
–Field Level Media
