Paul McGinley has revealed the reason that he does not expect to see Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood become Ryder Cup captains in the future following their moves to LIV Golf.

The European Ryder Cup team had a long list of captains waiting in the wings heading into the 2023 event in Rome, with the likes of Westwood, Poulter, Sergio Garcia, and Graeme McDowell likely to follow Henrik Stenson.

However, Stenson was stripped of the captaincy after deciding to follow the quartet to LIV Golf in 2022. Westwood, Poulter, and Garcia all resigned their memberships with the DP World Tour at various stages.

Both Poulter and Garcia have confirmed that they are leaving LIV Golf ahead of the 2027 season. However, that does not mean that they are back in the frame to succeed Luke Donald after Adare Manor next September.

Paul McGinley casts doubt on Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood ever being Ryder Cup captain

In 2017, the European Tour introduced a new rule that banned players who decline membership from ever being Ryder Cup captain. Of course, that rule came in several years before LIV turned the game upside down.

Nevertheless, speaking to The Times, Paul McGinley believes that the rules are unlikely to change to accommodate those coming back from LIV.

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“Ian Poulter, it’s going to be the biggest regret of his life that he never became Ryder Cup captain. The same for Lee Westwood,” he said.

“Well, I see no enthusiasm from the players’ committee to have the regulation that excludes them lifted. So in that sense, yes, I think the boat [Ryder Cup captaincy] has sailed.”

McGinley criticises those who left the DP World Tour for LIV Golf over their conduct

Ever since Brooks Koepka made the decision to leave LIV Golf towards the end of 2025, there has been plenty of debate regarding how any returning players should be treated by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

Obviously, that conversation is much more prevalent now that several players have decided to leave LIV.

McGinley was asked whether that punishment of never being able to captain the Ryder Cup team is too severe. But the victorious skipper from 2014 insisted that those players made their bed with how they handled joining LIV in the first place.

“I understand why they went to LIV and I think if I’d been in their position, I might have done the same. In my view, going was not the biggest mistake. Their short-sightedness, in being critical of the DP World Tour as they departed, this was the problem. They burned their bridges as they crossed to the other side and a lot of people were offended by that. Half of the team I captained in the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles went to LIV. Half of them. Not one of them showed any graciousness to the Tour they were leaving. That broke my heart,” he said.

“They’re now trying to be more conciliatory. ‘Coming back to my home’ is what Sergio wrote recently, but people remember what was said four years ago. Back then, if these guys had been getting good advice, they would have been told, ‘You’ve got to leave it in the right way’, because LIV might be here today, gone tomorrow. You may want to come back to the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour, so let’s do this in a classy way, expressing some appreciation as you exit. They didn’t do this.”

Europe has definitely weathered the storm caused by LIV much better than anyone would have expected. Donald has been a phenomenal captain. And when he steps aside, the likes of Francesco Molinari and Justin Rose will be waiting in the wings.

As McGinley suggests, that may be the final nail in the coffin for those Ryder Cup legends now returning from LIV.