Ian Poulter has no plans to try and qualify for the next Ryder Cup like fellow LIV Golf star Sergio Garcia and he would even turn down an approach to become a team captain.
Poulter made a career out of his involvement in seven Ryder Cups, helping Team Europe win on five occasions.
He holds a remarkable record of never losing a Sunday Singles match and was once seen as a shoo-in to one day become a Team Europe captain.
That all changed when he signed up to join LIV Golf and resigned his DP World Tour membership.
Poulter faced plenty of backlash at the time of his decision to jump ship to the Saudi-backed tour and was overlooked for the 2023 Ryder Cup.
Ian Poulter doesn’t think he’ll appear in another Ryder Cup
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And the 12-time European Tour winner feels too much has been said for him to ever be involved in another Ryder Cup.
“My years of playing the Ryder Cup are done, I’m too old. I’m 48, so I’d technically be 49 by the time next year’s edition rolls around,” he told Gulf News.
“Too much happened last time, too much was said and that’s extremely disappointing from my perspective with the way certain people were treated and spoken about with reference to the Ryder Cup, especially when certain people have committed a lot of their life to work extremely hard for that product.
“So the way it stands right now, with the current people that run that level of the organisation, things would have to change for me to be involved.
“That’s from an everything perspective (Captain, Vice Captain or player), I’m not needed.
“They didn’t need me last time – some people said that we weren’t needed.”
However, Poulter appeared to backtrack when asked whether his view would change if bridges were rebuilt with some of his former team-mates.
When asked whether he would consider a return if those relationships were mended, he replied: “Absolutely.
“There’s no question. If you cut me in half, it bleeds Ryder Cup, right?
“But I also have my own self dignity and respect in there to not allow people to say certain stuff and disrespect you.”
Ian Poulter has an incredible record at the Ryder Cup
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The negative narrative around LIV Golf has died down since the early days when Poulter first joined.
Rory McIlroy, who was once fiercely against the players who left to join LIV, has now softened his stance.
And Poulter feels the reason people like McIlroy have changed their tune is because LIV isn’t going anywhere.
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Ian Poulter doesn’t think LIV Golf is going anywhere
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“They probably finally realised that we’re not going away,” he said.
“I think for a long time they assumed we were just going to go away because the media was portraying that.
“The early news from a certain side after the merger agreement in June was announced was that somebody said he would take his own opinion and shut LIV Golf down – we all knew that wasn’t true and it’s taken a long time for people to actually really understand that.”
