Davis Love III has urged players to boycott the majors in protest against LIV Golf’s Saudi rebels.
The 58-year-old, who is this year’s US captain for the Presidents Cup and captained the US Ryder Cup team in 2012 and 2016, is concerned about the consequences top players’ defections could have for the two events.
The 1997 PGA Championship has also grown frustrated with the civil war the series has created and insisted PGA Tour players should intervene if the LIV Golf rebels are still allowed to play majors.
He claimed there was a relatively easy solution if the Saudi-backed breakaway continues to be disruptive for golf’s greatest honors.
‘Well, here’s the biggest lever; and it’s not the nice lever,’ Love told Sports Illustrated. ‘But if a group of veterans and a group of top current players align with 150 guys on the Tour, and we say, ‘Guess what? We’re not playing,’ that solves it, right?
‘If LIV guys play in the US Open, we’re not playing. If they sue in court, and they win, well, we’re not playing.
‘You know, there won’t be a US Open. It’s just like a baseball strike.’
Davis Love III has urged players to boycott the majors in protest against LIV Golf’s Saudi rebels
The former Ryder Cup captain will lead Team USA in the Presidents Cup later this year
Three of the major organizers have expressed their concerns over the future of LIV Golf players in the tournaments but have so far stopped short of banning them.
On the eve of the first round of the British Open at St Andrews, Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, was withering of Greg Norman’s LIV series, dismissing the start-up as ‘entirely driven by money’.
While Slumbers said that barring LIV players is ‘not on our agenda’, with 24 rebels in the field of 156 here and currently eligible for all majors, he did disclose his governing body would ‘review our exemptions and qualifications criteria for the Open’.
R&A chief Martin Slumbers was critical of the LIV defectors ahead of start of the 150th Open
Sportsmail understands one possibility being considered is the exclusion of players suspended from one of the traditional tours.
Mike Whan, CEO of the United States Golf Association which runs the US Open, has also warned the Saudi-backed LIV rebels competing that he could foresee a day – presumably through their inability to gain world ranking points – where it would be harder for them to qualify to play in this major.
While the Masters has yet to make an official comment, chairman Fred Ridley said at the Masters in April that Phil Mickelson was not prohibited from playing as a past champion.
Mike Whan, CEO of the United States Golf Association, warned the 15 Saudi-backed LIV rebels competing at the US Open that there may be a day when they can no longer play majors
However, by jumping ship the defectors have jeopardized their opportunity to represent their teams in the Ryder and President’s Cups.
The PGA suspended all its members who had jumped ship to its Saudi-funded rivals, also barring them from being able to play in the Ryder Cup.
The DP World Tour recently fired Team Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson after he became the latest to defect to LIV Golf for a $48million signing-on fee and won his first even this week in New Jersey.
The saga has left Love frustrated as he has tried to establish which players are joining or are considering joining LIV Golf ahead of making his captain’s picks for this year’s Presidents Cup.
American stars, such as Dustin Johnson (pictured), have jeopardized their Ryder Cup places
Henrik Stenson will not captain Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup after joining LIV Golf
Love revealed he had contacted players, including Phil Mickelson, ahead of his captain picks
Love has just a few weeks before he is to make his captain’s selections for the US team that will face off against Trevor Immelman’s international team in late September in Charlotte.
He has reportedly been in contact with players such as Mickelson asking them if they are comfortable with the idea of never player a Ryder or Presidents Cup again and tried to convince them they could be making a mistake they will regret further down the line.
‘Some of them understood it,’ Love said. ‘Some of them think they are going to court or whatever and are going to prevail, and they’re gonna get to come back.
‘What they don’t seem to understand is that players make the rules. So we can strengthen the rules rather than loosening the rules, right?’
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