Ryder Cup, decisive crossroads for its future

• golf

Between the closure of an amazing Italian Open, which featured many European stars racing to study the course of the next Ryder Cup 2023, and the start of the 14th Presidents Cup, golfing important things happened. The first: the statement by Rory McIlroy, who in Rome said he was looking for "fresh blood" for the next European team, thus suggesting that at least on his part there is no room in the team for the elderly fugitives or less elderly than LIV.

The second: the words of love released by Robert McIntyre, fresh winner in Rome, precisely towards the Ryder Cup, which he defined as his main goal for next season, thus applying to be part of that team of "hungry players" of victory ”that Rory is looking for far and wide.

The third: Cameron Smith's simultaneous victory in Chicago on his first outing in a LIV tournament, which made us green-eyed voyeurs even more regret his absence from the international team of this week's Presidents Cup.

Oh yes, because from Thursday, on the amazing Quail Hollow track, a slightly ... crippled Presidents' Cup will be staged. Among the many, tough guys like Brooks Koepka, Bryson de Chambeau, Dustin Johnson, Mark Leishman and, in fact, like Cameron Smith himself, winner in 2022 nothing less than The Players and the Open Championship will be missing.

In short, not a little stuff.

Ryder Cup, situation

At this point, it is natural to ask ourselves that Ryder is expecting us in Rome next year. And above all, given that no decision has yet been made in the Old Continent, what kind of European team will we have: with or without the LIV champions? Now, if the Americans do not seem in difficulty in replacing the exiles from the PGA Tour (and in fact they have already made it known that in the stars and stripes team there will be no space for the players who have signed with the Saudis), the speech for the team European Union is totally different: to date, no decision has yet been taken.
Because? The first possible answer is very trivial, but equally true: if in the coming months other eligible stars for the team from the Old Continent were to move to Greg Norman, the technical value and the show of Ryder without them on the field could decrease considerably.

And if the DP World Tour cannot afford it, at the same time, given the efforts made so far, the Italian Golf Federation does not really deserve it. And of course not even us fans. So today, more than the PGA Tour, it is European golf that is at a decisive crossroads for its future: if the Ryder Cup were to end up in the crossfire between the Saudis and the rest of the world, the damage to the Old Continent would be unbridgeable.