Five years ago, it would have been unthinkable that Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia may never be Ryder Cup captains.

Before the duo joined LIV Golf in 2022, Poulter was pencilled in for the Ryder Cup captaincy at Bethpage Black in 2025, while Garcia was being touted for the role in his homeland in 2031.

A lot has changed over the past four years, though.

When the likes of Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia left the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour in order to join LIV Golf, they essentially forfeited their chances of becoming European Ryder Cup captains.

Which player do you expect to benefit most from leaving LIV Golf?

Several names have already announced they will not be involved with LIV 2.0

That’s because they both fell foul of a little-known rule that was created long before LIV Golf came around way back in 2017.

Poulter, Garcia and co. are now experiencing the full consequences of their decisions to join LIV in the first place.

2017 rule means Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia will never be Ryder Cup captains

According to Today’s Golfer, the likes of Poulter, Garcia and Lee Westwood are all still banned from captaining the European Ryder Cup team.

That is apparently still the case in spite of the fact that they are all set to leave LIV Golf.

Today’s Golfer state: “In January 2017, long before the LIV disruption began, the DP World Tour added a crucial regulation to its rulebook which states: ‘Players cannot be a European Ryder Cup captain or a vice-captain if they decline membership of the European Tour or fail to fulfil their minimum event obligation in any season’.”

Poulter, Garcia and Westwood obviously haven’t fulfilled their minimum event obligation in any season since they left to join LIV Golf.

Now they are all getting exactly what they deserve.

The key point here is that all of those players who joined LIV Golf back in 2022 knew exactly what they were signing up for.

The European players knew that, by joining LIV, they would be ineligible to captain the Ryder Cup side at any point, unless that specific rule which was created in 2017 changed, of course.

Garcia, Poulter and the rest of the players who joined LIV Golf in 2022 clearly thought that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour would both be forced into partnering up with them.

However, we all know that hasn’t been the case. LIV Golf is seemingly on its last legs, with their proposed 2.0 version drawing little interest.

The likes of Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood made their beds, now they have to lie in them. By joining LIV Golf four years ago, they have almost certainly ended their hopes of ever captaining the European Ryder Cup side.

Some might say that’s a bit harsh on them. I say it’s exactly what they deserve, with their arrogant, conceited and, quite frankly, patronizing stances against anyone who dared to speak out against LIV Golf finally coming home to roost.