Ryder Cup door not closed on LIV defectors Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, says European Tour chief

The irony of the location wasn’t lost on anyone. In the background, the iconic Tower Bridge’s bascules rose with mechanical precision to allow high-masted yachts on the Thames to smoothly pass under to go about their business on the waterway; at a time when Guy Kinnings – the new chief executive of the European Tour – was outlining his perceived pathway forward for men’s professional golf, which has been fractured since LIV Golf’s arrival.

Kinnings has been in the sport for a long, long time. Back in the day, in a previous career life with IMG, he was Colin Montgomerie’s manager and, since joining the European Tour (now DP World Tour), he oversaw last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome before earlier this month moving into the top role vacated by Keith Pelley, who moved back to his native Canada as CEO of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Given his own legal background, Kinnings’s move into the hot seat could prove prudent. “There is one single topic that needs to get sorted first and the rest of the stuff will flow from there . . . we [need to] get the solution on what the future of the game will look like, it is the elephant in the room in every conversation you have. So, from my perspective all I want to do is, as quickly as possible, get the right people around the table to talk about what can the future look like.

“I don’t expect them to go in knowing all the answers. What does the product look like in 2026 and beyond? What is the pathway? Until you get into a room with the right people with the right intent to try and find a solution you are never going to work out a deal and this is what is needed right now,” said Kinnings.

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The remarkable thing is that such a meeting has not yet taken place, that the PGA Tour, the Sports Strategic Group (a consortium of American sports team owners led by Fenway Sports Group), the Saudi Arabia PIF and the DP World Tour have not, as one, sat down as one to find solutions.

“I see it as a huge opportunity because if you can unite and go global, that’s exactly what we are all about . . . [it’s about] finding a pathway, bring the players back, make it global, make it united, so that’s got to be the mantra we all want to get and how you then work it,” admitted Kinnings, who nevertheless isn’t inclined to look back:

“I can’t explain in detail or fix what’s gone before, now looking forward, we have just got to make sure that happens as soon as possible.”

And Kinnings is convinced Rory McIlroy’s recent decision to rejoining the PGA Tour’s policy board will be of benefit, especially in having the back of the European side of things: “For us to have a European voice in itself, but also someone so articulate, who has that knowledge, is a really good thing. I know how much time it took out of him originally, because we had a conversation when he first stood down. This is a guy who would work board meetings until two or three in the morning, get up and play in a pro-am and he did that and he knows that.

“I think his voice will be really, really important. It is having the right voices that will make sure we get all the people to the negotiating table. The only thing I see as the biggest obstacle is getting that negotiation to happen. We know who they are, who they need to be, we want to just get that started. I can’t control that process. All I can do is encourage people to do that as I am sure Rory and others will do.”

And Kinnings also envisaged a situation where someone like Jon Rahm or Tyrrell Hatton – among those defectors to LIV – could still play for Europe in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage next year, without any need to change qualification rules.

“If you look at what was the qualification eligibility criteria for 2023, then I think there has been a slight misconception because the reality is, under the current rules, if a player is European and is a member of the DP World Tour and abides by the rules as they currently are [can qualify]. If you don’t get a release there are sanctions and if you accept those sanctions and take those penalties and work with that, there is no reason why players who have taken LIV membership, maintained membership of the DP World Tour, could not (A) qualify and (B) be available for selection,” said Kinnings, insisting such an interpretation was not a “loophole.”