Poulter defiant on Ryder Cup: “A betrayal? We can still qualify for the team as far as I'm aware”

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland lines up a putt on the No. 2 green during Round 3 of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, November 14, 2020.

Ian Poulter last night insisted he can still play the Ryder Cup next year despite Rory McIlroy's assertion that the defection of former European Ryder Cup stars to LIV Golf felt like a "betrayal".

World number one McIlroy said in an interview with the Guardian that with former teammates such as Poulter joining the Saudi-funded circuit and Henrik Stenson stripped of the European captaincy after defecting, the battle with LIV was "out of control" and that it could leave the game "fractured" for a long time.

"I think it is the first time in my life that I have felt betrayal, in a way," McIlroy said. "You build bonds with these people through Ryder Cups and other things. Them knowing that what they are about to do is going to jeopardise them from being a part of that ever again?

"I would like to think the Ryder Cup means as much to them as it does to me. Maybe it does. But knowing what the consequences could be, I just could never make that decision."

Poulter was one of three LIV Golf players to take legal action against the DP World Tour and have his suspension from European Tour events lifted until the case is resolved in court next year.

While it remains to be seen if European-born LIV Golf members will be banned from qualifying for the Ryder Cup, Poulter sounded a note of defiance when asked about McIlroy's comments ahead of LIV Golf's season-ending team event in Miami.

"A betrayal? We can still qualify for the team as far as I'm aware," Poulter said. "Unless we've been told we can't qualify, then I'm still ready to play as much as I possibly can and try and make that team.

"I mean, look, my commitment to the Ryder Cup I think goes before me. I don't think that should ever come in question. I've always wanted to play Ryder Cups and have played with as much passion as anyone else that I've ever seen play a Ryder Cup. You know, I don't know where that comment really has come from, to be honest."

McIlroy recently accused Phil Mickelson of spreading "propaganda" when he said LIV Golf was trending up and the PGA Tour on its way down.

But he refused to engage with questions of McIlroy's call for both sides to sit down and sort out their differences.

"You know, I think a lot of Rory," Mickelson said. "I really have the utmost respect for him, and I look at what he's done in the game and how he's played this year and his win last week and No. 1 in the world now, and I have a ton of respect for him.

"We'll have three months off after this event to talk about things like that and so forth, but this week something is happening that I don't want to deflect focus on, which is we've never had a team event like this in professional golf."