Ian Poulter Replaces Lee Westwood As Majesticks GC Captain
The Englishmen are swapping roles for the final event of the LIV Golf season at Trump National Doral in Florida
The field and teams have been announced for the LIV Golf Team Championship finale at Trump National Doral in Florida. However, while there have been two personnel changes, with Valderrama winner Adrian Otaegeui replacing Hideto Tanihara on Torque GC and Hennie Du Plessis returning to Stinger GC in place of Shaun Norris, another change involves a team captaincy.
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Lee Westwood has been the captain of Majesticks GC since the second tournament, when he replaced Ian Poulter. For the season’s final tournament, though, Poulter is stepping back into the leadership role. While it has not been confirmed why the two Englishmen have switched responsibilities, a look at Poulter’s Ryder Cup history may offer the greatest clue.
During this week’s tournament, as well as foursomes match play, there are also singles matches where the team captains will compete. In the Ryder Cup, Poulter remains undefeated in seven singles matches, winning six, suggesting the move is being made to play to his strengths. Not only that, but history tells us that Westwood is well-suited to foursomes matches with a Ryder Cup record of 11 points in 20 matches.
3 changes for team champs at Doral...Hennie DuPlessis returns to Stinger lineup (for Norris) - that will get him into 2023 LIV lineup. Adrian Otaegui (2 weeks removed from DP Tour win) replaces Tanihara for Torque squad. And Poulter will serve as captain for Majesticks 1/2October 24, 2022
The Poulter/Westwood change is interesting. Why would the Majesticks do it, you might ask? Well, the captains play singles matches at Doral, and Ian Poulter is undefeated in singles play in his Ryder Cup history (and Westwood has 11 4some points in 18 matches). 2/2October 24, 2022
Majesticks GC is seeded sixth going into the tournament. Because the team is seeded outside the top four, it will need to play in the opening round's quarter-finals. If Majesticks GC progresses, it will face one of the top four seeds in the semi-final. With the highest-ranked teams choosing their opponents, that could even leave Majesticks GC facing Dustin Johnson’s dominant 4 Aces GC on the second day before the remaining four teams compete in a stroke play competition in the final round.
Majesticks GC will certainly fancy its chances of pulling off a shock and winning the tournament. As well as Poulter and Westwood, the team also has Henrik Stenson in its ranks. A veteran of five Ryder Cups, Stenson was also previously named the 2023 European Ryder Cup captain before he was stripped of the role after defecting to LIV Golf.
Certainly, the stakes are high. The purse is double what has been on offer in each of the previous seven tournaments, at $50m. Of that, the winning team will share $16m between its four players, the second-placed team will win $8m, with $6m awarded to the team finishing third and $4m to the team in fourth. With a comparatively small $1m handed to each of the bottom four teams, Poulter and Westwood will hope the switch proves to be a lucrative decision as the inaugural season concludes.
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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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