'I Don't Feel Like I've Given It Up' - Stenson On Being 'Removed' As Ryder Cup Captain
Stenson says he "made every arrangement possible" to play LIV and fulfil his duties as Ryder Cup captain before being "removed"


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Henrik Stenson makes his LIV Golf debut this week following his time as Europe's Ryder Cup captain ending prematurely after joining the Saudi-backed series last week.
The Swede has opened up on his move to LIV and reiterated that he tried to remain as captain and made arrangements to do both but was "removed" as skipper by the DP World Tour.
"I don't feel like I've given it up," he said. "I made every arrangement possible here to be able to fulfil my captain's duties, and I've had great help here from LIV to be able to do that. And still, the decision was made that I was to be removed. I'm obviously disappointed over the situation. But it is what it is, and yeah, we move on from there now.
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"We had discussions and I informed them of the decision to go and play in LIV tournaments. They had a short period of time where they were kind of discussing or debating if what was going to happen, and I was informed of their decision shortly after."
The 2016 Open champion says he expects to be treated fairly going forwards and is waiting to hear from Ryder Cup Europe over whether he, and the other Europeans in LIV, can continue to take part in the match either as vice captains or players. He also called the current situation with the divide between LIV and the PGA/DP World Tours as "a shame".
"I just expect to be treated fairly going forward depending on what the outcomes are in this whole case, and that is yet to be seen what decisions are to be made and when we will be notified of anything like the boys are saying here, qualification and vice captaincies and all the rest," he said. "So up until that point, we just wait for European Tour and Ryder Cup Europe to make those announcements.
"I obviously feel like it's a shame that we ended up in this situation, and I just hope that we can get a resolution as soon as possible here for all tours and everyone involved, and we can all kind of co-exist together. Yeah, all the players love The Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Yeah, it's just a shame we ended up in this situation. I hope for a quick solution."
The 46-year-old also confirmed that his decision to join LIV was a financial one, admitting that money has always influenced his schedule as a professional since the late 90s.
"I'd say I've been a golf professional since very late 1998, and purse sizes, prize money on offer, financial part's always been a part of where we made up our schedules and where we are going to play," he said. "It's been a part of it, absolutely. It was no different in this case."
Stenson makes his LIV debut this week in Bedminster, where he competes as part of Majesticks GC alongside captain Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield.
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Elliott Heath is our Senior Staff Writer and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news, features, courses and travel sections as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as four Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays at West Byfleet Golf Club in Surrey, where his handicap index floats anywhere between 2-5. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max
Hybrid: TaylorMade SIM Max
Irons: Mizuno MP5 4-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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