TAs he walks into Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, you walk past a series of giant posters of the European team’s biggest moments: Darren Clarke’s chip on the 16th to beat Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk in the four-ball at the K Club in 2006, Jamie Donaldson in the seconds after Keegan Bradley conceded at Gleneagles on Sunday in 2014, as Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari hugged after winning their fourth point together at Le Golf National. It’s a long road, and on and on they run, Seve at the Belfry, Woosie at Muirfield, Ollie breaking down in tears in the aftermath of the Miracle at Medina.
There are, as you will eventually notice, three people who are very conspicuously missing from the gallery. You’ll have to walk a lot longer before you find photos of Sergio García, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, the three men who have become most closely associated with the European team this century. If you’re looking for one, you can even walk the 350-acre golf course and then head back into town.
That’s quite a bit of editing by whoever was responsible for putting the screen together. No one has played in more matches than Westwood in the history of the Ryder Cup, García has won more points than anyone in the history of the Ryder Cup, Poulter has of course provided some of his most indelible memories. Together they have played 117 matches and won 68.5 points. For perspective, the 12 men on the team have only played 84 games this week and won 42.
But four of these dozens weren’t even born when the last European team fielded at least one of these three, at Oak Hill in 1995, and most of the others were still learning to walk. At least two Westwood, Poulter or García have competed in every Ryder Cup this century. They are the thread that connects the team that won in Paris in 2018 to the team that won in Valderrama in 1997, where a rookie Westwood teamed with Nick Faldo, and the team that lost in Whistling Straits in 2021 to the team that was defeated in Brookline. in ’99, where García played with Jesper Parnevik.
The divide is even more striking because Europeans make so much of their history. They even have Ballesteros’ polo shirt hanging in their dressing room. The idea is that the meaning of playing for their team is something that should be passed on from one generation to the next, especially now, in years after the drubbing they took at Whistling Straits. They are, as Rory McIlroy keeps saying, a team in transition, which is why they brought four young rookies here. “Nicolai, Ludwig, Bob, that is the future of our team,” said McIlroy, “and the future of the Ryder Cup.”
If García, Westwood and Poulter had not signed with LIV Golf, you can bet that all three would have been here this week, as vice-captains, or even, in García’s case, as captain’s pick, allowing them to rookies could send. through. Instead, as McIlroy and the rest posed for photos at the opening ceremony, the folks at Poulter and Westwood issued a press release announcing the launch of the new online chat show they created with Henrik Stenson. Stenson, of course, was supposed to be the captain this week until he was stripped of the honor. Today he is co-captain of LIV’s Majesticks GC team.
So the stories they were supposed to share in the locker room and at the team dinner were instead promoted for clicks on YouTube.
García’s involvement extends to a few phone calls with Jon Rahm, the latest on Tuesday. He says he also spoke to Poulter. Rahm, McIlroy and Justin Rose are now the senior members of the team; Rose and McIlroy have combined for more than half of the team’s 84 games, and all three have taken on the roles that García and Poulter would normally fill. “Not that it’s going to be easy to take on the role those two had,” Rahm said, “both on and off the golf course.” He said the conversations had been “invaluable” to him.
McIlroy’s take on all this was pithy and brutal: “I think they’ll miss it here more than we will miss them.” In any case, the wound is still a bit too raw for him. You have to hope it heals quickly. Their photos deserve to stand next to Seve and the rest at Adare Manor in 2027.