Lee Westwood’s Ryder Cup legacy took some heavy damage when he signed with LIV Golf.

Like many of the greats from his era, including Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter, Westwood risked his future as a Ryder Cup captain to join the Saudi-backed league. Henrik Stenson even had his captaincy stripped when he signed with LIV Golf.

It seemed shocking that Westwood and co would sacrifice their future at an event that appeared to mean so much to them. That’s what Rory McIlroy called the biggest betrayal of the entire LIV Golf saga.

Westwood was lined up as a future captain, and he recently revealed what he was told about his future on Europe’s Ryder Cup team before he joined LIV.

Lee Westwood gave up Ryder Cup captaincy to join LIV Golf

Team Europe have dominated the last two Ryder Cups with Luke Donald at the helm, but things could have been drastically different. Speaking on the Chipping Forecast podcast, Westwood said that he was offered the role for Rome 2023.

He said, “It all kind of came together at one time. Whistling Straits had happened, and quite shortly after that I had a conversation with Guy Kinnings, where he talked about the Ryder Cup captaincy and captaining in Italy.

What is your best ever score for 18 holes?

No, pitch and putt does not count!

“I still felt like, if you play in the last Ryder Cup you feel like you can play in the next Ryder Cup. He asked me if I’d like to be Ryder Cup captain, and I’d started discussions with LIV, and I think I’d asked if I did go to LIV, could I be Ryder Cup captain as well.

“He didn’t say no, but it was made clear there would be very little chance of it. And then I went to LIV. Funnily enough, myself and Henrik had a conversation about it, and I told him the conclusion I’d come to, yet Henrik still took the captaincy knowing he might go to LIV, and we all saw what happened there.

“But we make calls in life, you make a choice, and I have no regrets over the choice I made there.”

Lee Westwood explains why Ryder Cup captaincy wasn’t a ‘priority’

Before LIV Golf arrived, Westwood was a certain pick to be a Ryder Cup captain at some point. He was one of the most influential figures for Team Europe at the event for decades. But he said that he gave up the captaincy for LIV Golf because it really didn’t mean that much to him.

Westwood said, “The one thing worse than playing Ryder Cup practice rounds that take six, six and a half hours is watching others do it and feeling helpless. I’m not good at relinquishing control. That’s one of the reasons

“I started playing golf, really. I started playing football, rugby, and cricket before taking up golf. But the reason I enjoyed golf is because the buck stopped with me. I didn’t want to have to rely on other people. 

“And that probably comes back to why Ryder Cup captaincy wasn’t that high of a priority. Or when push came to shove it wasn’t the be-all and end-all for me. I’m not sure I wanted it enough.

“Looking at it now, would Luke Donald have become Ryder Cup captain with all the guys that went to LIV around? Maybe he wouldn’t have been high on that list. But we’ve sure as hell found a great Ryder Cup captain that all the players want to play for, and he’s had it three times now and been really successful.

“Good things come out of other people’s decisions.”

That’s easy enough to say now that Westwood will likely never be a Ryder Cup captain, but his decision to join LIV Golf does show that the role really didn’t mean as much to Westwood as you might think.