Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said he is sad that Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia will be unavailable for the team after they quit the DP World Tour.

The trio stepped aside after being sanctioned for joining rival LIV Golf, thus rendering them ineligible for inclusion when the match against the United States begins in Rome in September.

On Thursday Westwood spoke out against the European Tour following the controversy, seemingly closing the door on any hope of a return in the future.

Donald, who will lead the Europe team as they seek to win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2018, said it was a shame that the situation had come to this.

“It’s sad we’ve got to this point but this was always a possibility,” Donald told BBC Sport. “I played with all three and they’ve been stalwarts of, and given a lot to, both the Ryder Cup and European Tour.

“I have a little more clarity now. I know they’re not an option to play in, or be any part of my team. It is a shame. They’ve got a lot of history when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

“Ultimately this is their choice and I wish them well. They feel like this was the best choice for them and now I’ve got choices to make that are best for me.

“There are generational shifts throughout the history of the Ryder Cup and maybe this is one.

“We certainly have plenty of great players to look at and pick from and I’m certainly excited about how everyone has played this year so far.”

Donald was made captain in 2022 after Henrik Stenson was dismissed for joining in the Saudi-backed LIV tour.

He will be without three of Europe’s most successful performers in the contest, with Westwood having featured as a player a record 11 times and Poulter unbeaten in singles across his seven appearances. Garcia is Europe’s all-time record points scorer.

Donald added: “There’s great momentum with European golf, we’ve already had seven winners in the US [this season] and a bunch of people who haven’t played in the Ryder Cup have played great this year on the DP World Tour so I’m excited about the make-up of this team.”

Lee Westwood has accused the DP World Tour of being “fully in bed” with the PGA Tour after announcing his resignation from the European circuit.

Westwood and fellow Ryder Cup stars Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have resigned their membership and are therefore no longer eligible for the biennial contest against the United States.

The trio were among the players fined £100,000 and suspended for two tournaments after playing the first LIV Golf event last year without permission.

Westwood and Poulter were also among the 12 members of the Saudi-funded breakaway who lost an appeal against the sanctions last month and were deemed to have committed “serious breaches” of the DP World Tour’s code of behaviour by a three-man arbitration panel.

Westwood confirmed he has paid the fine and is keen to “move on”, but reiterated his criticism of the way the PGA Tour and DP World Tour have reacted to the emergence of LIV Golf.

“I’ve been a dual member of the European Tour and PGA Tour, but always said I was a European Tour member first and foremost and that I had fears about the US circuit basically being bullies and doing everything it could to secure global dominance,” Westwood told The Telegraph.

“Check my old quotes, it’s all there.

“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour and even though Keith (Pelley, the chief executive) says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour.

“The top 10 players on the tour, not already exempt this year, have a pathway to the PGA Tour – that’s giving our talent away. That was never the tour’s policy before this ‘strategic alliance’.

“Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime.

“I mulled it over and just didn’t like the thought of the tour continuously hitting us with more fines and bans that would have been hanging over me.

“I’ve paid my fine out of respect for the arbitration panel and have then taken the decisions out of the tour’s hands. I honestly want to move on.”

Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have resigned from the DP World Tour and in the process seemingly ended their Ryder Cup careers.

The trio have been stalwarts of Europe’s Ryder Cup squad for the best part of three decades but last summer decided to join the LIV Golf series.

A host of other top names were lured to the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway venture with multi-million dollar deals, huge prize funds and no-cut events.

It proved the catalyst for months of wrangling and legal battles and despite Westwood, Poulter and Garcia long ago pledging their allegiances to LIV Golf, only now have they handed in their resignation to the DP World Tour in the latest chapter of the sport’s civil war.

Englishman Richard Bland has also resigned from the DP World Tour, but it is the confirmation of Westwood, Poulter and Garcia’s withdrawal that is the final nail in the coffin of their illustrious Ryder Cup careers.

Westwood remains Europe’s record appearance holder with 11 showings and Garcia the leading all-time points scorer of the competition, while the biennial event always brought out the best of Poulter, but they will now definitely not be involved in September’s latest instalment in Rome.

“The DP World Tour today confirmed it has received membership resignations from Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Richard Bland and Lee Westwood who were sanctioned for serious breaches of the Tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulation committed last June,” a statement read.

“The DP World Tour would like to take this opportunity to thank the four players for the contribution they have made to the Tour and in particular to Sergio, Ian and Lee for the significant part they have played in Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup over many years.

“Their resignations, however, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.

“As we have consistently maintained throughout the past year, the Tour has a responsibility to its entire membership to administer the member regulations which each player signs up to. These regulations are in place to protect the collective interests of all DP World Tour members.

“The independent panel appointed by Sport Resolutions recognised this, determining that our Conflicting Tournament Regulation and its application in the circumstances did not go beyond what was necessary and proportionate to the Tour’s continued operation as a professional golf tour and that we have a legitimate interest in protecting the rights of our full membership by enforcing it.

“A further update on other sanctioned members will be provided on Thursday.”

Westwood, Poulter, Garcia and Bland were all given sanctions by the DP World Tour for breaking rules by appearing in the LIV Golf series’ opening event in Hemel Hempstead last year without permission.

Europe captain Luke Donald admits he will find it hard to give his side a significant advantage with the way he sets up this year’s Ryder Cup course.

As the home skipper, Donald is allowed to dictate how Marco Simone Golf Club will play for this year’s contest against the United States as Europe look to bounce back from the record defeat at Whistling Straits in 2021.

The former world number one and some of his potential team members also have the opportunity to contest this week’s Italian Open at the venue on the outskirts of Rome, with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre defending the title he won last year.

“Since playing it last year, we looked at a few different fairway lines, bringing in a few fairways a little bit tighter,” Donald told a pre-event press conference.

“The template for European golf is to have a slightly narrower golf course, a little bit more rough, not greens that get too fast because that’s obviously what the US guys are always used to.

“There’s not a whole lot we have changed but we have added a couple of bunkers to create opportunities for better driving. I feel like Europe has good drivers of the golf ball.

“I think it’s a fun golf course in terms of there’s potentially two or three driveable par fours. Statistically, driving is a good part of our games so to have those in there could give us a slight advantage.

“But there’s only so much you can do. The players are very evenly matched when it comes to statistics.

“You’re just trying to find little potential differences that you can capitalise on but the standard of play is very close these days. It’s hard to gain a big advantage.”

MacIntyre defeated US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off to win his second DP World Tour title last September, the left-hander making a birdie on the first extra hole after he and Fitzpatrick had finished tied on 14 under par, a shot ahead of Victor Perez.

Pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy, who was within a shot of the lead until hitting his tee shot on the 16th into the water, finished fourth on 12 under.

That was just the second qualifying event for the Ryder Cup and although MacIntyre has since fallen outside the automatic places, the world number 91 is trying to play down the potential significance of a successful title defence.

“I worried about that for the last Ryder Cup, worried about what could be,” he said. “This year, I’m not worried at all about what could be. What will be will be and I’ll be going out there to play golf because you enjoy it.

“This week is not going to define my season. I get it’s on the golf course where the Ryder Cup is going to be. Course set up is pretty similar to last year. I did it on that golf course.

“But, to be honest, I am not worried just about this week and there is so much golf to be played and it’s not going to define the season, good or bad.

“We’ll just keep marching on and working hard and hopefully we make it there come September.”

Rory McIlroy insists it was an “easy decision” to potentially forfeit £2.4million in bonus money as he spoke for the first time about how missing the cut in the Masters “sucked”.

McIlroy did not speak to waiting reporters after a second round of 74 at Augusta National brought a premature end to his latest bid to win a green jacket and complete the career grand slam.

The world number three then withdrew from the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, meaning he had missed his second ‘designated event’ of the year on the PGA Tour and was subject to losing 25 per cent of his Player Impact Program bonus.

“We certainly have our minimums, we obviously signed up for this designated-event series this year,” McIlroy said at a promotional event for FedEx ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship.

“I obviously knew the consequences that could come with missing one of those. It was an easy decision, but I felt like, if that fine or whatever is to happen, (it) was worth that for me in order to get some things in place.

“I had my reasons not to play Hilton Head. I expressed those to Jay [Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner] and whether he thinks that is enough to warrant… look, again, I understood the consequences of that decision before I made it.

“So whatever happens, happens.”

McIlroy revealed that he had allowed himself to think about his prospects of becoming just the sixth player to have won all four major titles after shooting five under par on the back nine of his Wednesday practice round at Augusta.

“Me thinking that way isn’t a good thing,” the four-time major winner said. “All I should be thinking about is that first shot on Thursday.

“You need to stay in the present moment and I feel like at Augusta I didn’t quite do a good job of that because of how well I came in playing. I maybe got ahead of myself a little bit.”

Describing his performance, McIlroy added: “It sucked. It sucked.

“It’s not the performance I obviously thought I was going to put up. Nor was it the performance I wanted. Just incredibly disappointing. But I needed some time to regroup and focus on what’s ahead.

“It’s been a big 12 months and I don’t know if I fully reflected on stuff. I never really got a chance to really think about the Open and St Andrews (where he was joint leader after 54 holes) and everything that went on there.

“It was nice to have three weeks to just put all that stuff in the rearview mirror and just try to focus on what’s ahead.”

What’s ahead on the course includes the US PGA Championship later this month and July’s Open Championship at Hoylake, where McIlroy lifted the Claret Jug in 2014.

And McIlroy hopes he will now be able to expend less energy on his role as an unofficial spokesperson for the PGA Tour in its battle against LIV Golf as the season progresses.

“I wasn’t gassed because of the golf, I was gassed because of everything that we’ve had to deal with in the golf world over the past 12 months and being right in the middle of it and being in that decision-making process,” McIlroy added.

“I’ve always thought I’ve had a good handle on the perspective of things and where golf fits within my life, but I think over the last 12 months I’d lost sight of that, lost sight of the fact that there’s more to life than the golf world and this silly little squabble that’s going on between tours.

“And I think once I disconnected from it a little bit, I could see things a little clearer and where everything fits. I guess that was a good reset.”

Tony Finau claimed his sixth PGA Tour title and fifth in the last 20 months with a highly impressive victory in the Mexico Open.

A year after finishing runner-up to Jon Rahm at Vidanta Vallarta, Finau reversed those positions thanks to a flawless closing 66.

At 24 under par, Finau finished three shots clear of world number one Rahm, with Brandon Wu – who was joint second with Finau 12 months ago – two strokes further back in third.

“It feels amazing,” Finau told CBS. “Rahmbo’s the best, he’s on top of the world right now.

“I knew I was going to have my hands full with him all the way till the end and I didn’t know this golf tournament was mine until I just hit this green (the 18th) here.

“It’s crazy how this game is, you never think you have a tournament won until it’s over so it feels great and we’re going to enjoy this one with my family.”

Rahm, who had carded a course record of 61 in round three, was chasing a fifth win of the year and the Masters champion kept his outside chance alive with a fourth birdie of the day on the 15th, only to bogey the 17th after his tee shot plugged in the bank of a greenside bunker.

Finau began the day with a two-shot lead and immediately extended it with a birdie on the first, but was caught at the top of the leaderboard when Wu followed two early birdies with an eagle on the sixth and another birdie on the next.

However, Finau responded with a birdie of his own on the short seventh and Wu’s chances effectively disappeared when he drove into the water on the 10th to run up a double bogey.

Finau birdied the 11th and 14th to give himself some welcome breathing space and parred the last four holes to round off a brilliant week.

Pablo Larrazabal was left astonished at beating a field of youthful and more powerful hitters after an "unbelievable" win at the Korea Championship on Sunday.

The Spaniard claimed his eighth DP World Tour title after managing four birdies in five holes on the back nine, carding a final-round 67 to finish 12 under par.

Dane Marcus Helligkilde signed for a fourth-round 68 to finish in second on ten under, one clear of Park Sang-hyun, Jorge Campillo, Joost Luiten and Scott Jamieson.

Just a couple of weeks before his 40th birthday, Larrazabal could not hide his amazement at overcoming the field at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.

He said: "It's amazing. In two weeks I'm turning 40. I'm not a long-hitter. To play against all these 20-year-old guys now that hit the ball 40 yards over me, and to beat them is unbelievable. 

"To do it here in Korea, where we have not come for ten years and where I love to play. Now it's one of my favourite places in the world. 

"I will be back to Korea to defend this title and hopefully many more times."

Larrazabal suggested the celebrations will continue into next weekend, albeit for different reasons before preparing for the final tournaments of the season.

He added: "My older brother is getting married on Saturday. I don't know if I'll bring the trophy to the wedding but I'm sure we’ll celebrate 95 per cent his wedding.

"A couple – not too many – of drinks celebrating my title. It's my birthday the week after and then flying to the U.S. PGA Championship in Rochester, New York.

"Seven out of nine weeks on mainland Europe finishing at The Open, and then holiday time."

Pablo Larrazabal battled his way to the top of a congested leaderboard on Sunday afternoon to claim his eighth DP World Tour title at the Korea Championship.

The Spaniard secured a two-shot victory over Dane Marcus Helligkilde after carding six birdies and a single bogey in a closing 67 to reach 12 under par.

Larrazabal went into the final round one shot off the lead having bogeyed the 17th when he returned to complete his weather-disrupted third round in the morning.

He then found himself in a five-way tie at the top on nine under at the turn following two front-nine birdies.

Larrazabal slipped from the summit after dropping his first shot of the round on the 10th hole but roared back, making four birdies in the next five holes to open up a three-shot lead.

He then safely parred his way home to clinch a first visit to the winner’s circle since the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain last April.

The 39-year-old said: “I love to compete, I love to fly out here, to see all these young guys hitting it miles and try to beat them.

“And that’s what makes me the happiest guy in the world.”

Scotland’s Scott Jamieson finished in a four-way tie for third on nine under alongside home favourite Park Sanghyun, Spain’s Jorge Campillo, Dutchman Joost Luiten, with fellow Scot Robert MacIntyre another shot further back.

Jon Rahm shot a course record 61 as his bid for a fifth win of the year moved up a gear in the third round of the Mexico Open.

The Masters champion went out in 29 to move within two of leader Tony Finau.

Akshay Bhatia, playing in just his sixth PGA Tour event, will join the tournament’s big two names in the final group after equalling the previous Vidanta Vallarta course record of 63 to sit alongside Rahm on 17 under.

Rahm, who hit 17 greens in regulation, had the chance of a rare 59 but missed birdie putts on 15 and 16 before seeing his drive at the 18th plug in a fairway bunker as he had to settle for a par.

He said following his round: “It was a great round. The swings didn’t feel that different today to the first two days. The first two rounds, a couple of the not-so-good swings cost me a little bit too much

“Today, everything just seemed perfect. Made a lot of great swings and the ones that weren’t great, still gave myself a good result.”

The world number one needed just 25 putts as he equalled his career-low round.

“I think that’s the difference usually in a course like this,” he said. “To get to 10 under you’re going to have to make a few lengthy ones, and combined with really good ball-striking, great round. Really happy with what I did and just glad I gave myself a chance.”

Rahm, who is looking to defend a PGA title for the first time, could become the first player with five wins on the tour before May since Johnny Miller in 1974.

Finau, the only other member of the world’s top 20 in the field, birdied five of his last seven holes as he carded a 65 to maintain his lead heading into the final round.

Rahm, who beat him to the title 12 months ago, briefly edged ahead before the American’s strong finish.

Bhatia, 21, leapfrogged into the final group with an eagle on the last having played a practice round with Rahm and Finau earlier in the week.

Brandon Wu, who was second alongside Finau last year, is a shot further back and the only other person within five strokes of the lead.

Ben Taylor edged into the top 10 with a 66, two better than fellow Englishman Harry Hall.

Phil Mickelson expects the four majors to find a way to include the cream of LIV Golf talent even if ranking system chiefs refuse to award points to the breakaway series.

LIV bosses are pushing for the official world golf rankings (OWGR) to award points for its events, but that has yet to come about.

There is no guarantee the situation will change, but Mickelson cannot see how it is in anyone's interest for the majors, golf's pinnacle events, to exclude some of the sport's biggest stars.

His LIV Golf colleague Bryson DeChambeau labelled the rankings "almost obsolete" when he spoke this week in Singapore. He has slipped from inside the top 30 to 178th since committing to LIV, where lucrative sign-up fees and prize money have drawn a host of golf's elite players.

Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, who both defected from the PGA Tour to LIV, finished tied for second at the recent Masters.

Sharp dips in ranking status could mean LIV stars are frozen out from the majors, but there seems likely to be an arrangement reached.

Reflecting on the sport's showpiece occasions and future prospects for LIV players, Mickelson said: "It's going to all iron itself out because if you're one of the majors, if you're the Masters, you're not looking at we should keep these guys out.

"You're saying to yourself, we want to have the best field, we want to have the best players, and these guys added a lot to the tournament this year at the Masters. How do we get them included?

"We have to come up with a qualifying mechanism that is inclusive, and if the world golf ranking isn't going to be inclusive, then they have to find another way.

"Maybe they take the top five or top 10 or winners of LIV, but they're going to have to find a way to get the best LIV players in their field if they want to have the best field in golf and be really what major championship is about. So they're already looking at that.

"If the world golf rankings doesn't find a way to be inclusive, then the majors will just find another way to include LIV because it's no longer a credible way.

"So it will all iron itself out for the simple reason that it's in the best interest of everybody, especially the tournaments, the majors, to have the best players."

The US PGA Championship is coming up in May, followed by the U.S. Open in June and the Open Championship in July.

Meanwhile, the Singapore leg of the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV series begins on Friday.

DeChambeau, a former winner of the U.S. Open, has little time for the ranking system as it stands.

"You should realise that the OWGR is not accurate, one," he said. "Two, I think that they need to come to a resolution, or it will become obsolete. It's pretty much almost obsolete as of right now.

"But again, if the majors and everything continue to have that as their ranking system, then they are biting it quite heavily."

Davis Riley and Nick Hardy earned their first PGA Tour wins on Sunday by securing the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a tournament-record score of 30 under par.

The American duo shot scores of 64 and 63 in their four-ball rounds on Thursday and Saturday, and they also excelled in the foursomes format, posting 66 on Friday before closing with a seven-under 65.

With five birdies from their last eight holes, Hardy and Riley broke two strokes clear of the chasing pack, eclipsing the scoring record of 29 under set by the team of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele just last year.

For their efforts, Hardy and Riley earned $1.24million each, along with a massive jump into the top 40 of the FedExCup rankings.

Two strokes behind in outright second place was the Canadian team of Adam Hadwin with Nick Taylor, who posted a final-round 63 to tie the tournament's foursomes scoring record, which Cantlay and Schauffele set on Friday.

Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler enjoyed an outright third finish at 27 under, while defending champions Cantlay and Schauffele were joined in fourth at 26 under by Matthew NeSmith with Taylor Moore.

The team of Keith Mitchell with Im Sung-jae came into Sunday's play at 25 under and finished the same way, blowing a golden opportunity to threaten the leaders, while the impressive young South Korean duo of Tim Kim and Kim Si-woo banked a top-10 finish at 23 under.

Lucas Herbert was "shaking" prior to sinking the winning putt on the second playoff hole against Aaron Cockerill to win the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan.

The Australian was tied with his Canadian rival at 15 under par for the tournament after the regulation holes, Herbert having missed a 20-footer for birdie at the last.

Herbert, who had travel issues and arrived late into Japan, missed his birdie attempt at the first extra hole, where Cockerill agonisingly lipped out.

He then found the trees off the tee but recovered brilliantly to make birdie and take home a third DP World Tour title.

"It's pretty special. I got pretty lucky over there on the right to get a good lie after we dropped it," Herbert said.

"Nick [caddie Nick Pugh] gave me the number and it was basically perfect. It was exactly what you'd want off that lie.

"So it was good to hit a good shot in there. And then my hand was shaking all over the place just to get the putt started on line, and to have it fall in was pretty cool."

Calum Hill was third at 14 under, one clear of fellow Scotsman Grant Forrest and home favourite Hiroshi Iwata

Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler retained their lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a third-round 62 in Saturday's four-ball.

The duo carded a 10-under 62 to be 26-under overall heading into the final day, leading by one stroke from Keith Mitchell and Sung-jae Im at TPC Louisiana.

The three teams are tied for third at 23-under overall, in Vincent Norrman and Matthias Schwab, Matthew NeSmith and Taylor Moore, and Nick Hardy and Davis Riley.

Clark and Hossler produced a bogey-free round with 10 birdies, including three in a row to start the back nine.

Clark birdied the 18th to ensure their solo lead from Mitchell and Im, who also went without a bogey for the round with the South Korean providing six front-nine birdies.

Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick also managed a third-round 62 to be 21-under overall, tied for seventh alongside two other teams.

Reigning champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay could only manage a six-under 66 on Saturday to slip down the leaderboard at 20-under overall.

Charley Hoffman, playing alongside Nick Watney, provided a highlight with a hole-in-one on the par-three ninth hole. The duo are back at 17-under overall.

The stroke play tournament concludes with the alternate shot format on Sunday.

After a disappointing opening round, the defending champion team of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele shot Friday's best round to climb into the top five at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The highest-ranked duo in the field, world number four Cantlay and world number five Schauffele made the foursomes format look easy, posting a nine-under 63 in the alternate shot style. It set a new tournament record for a foursomes round.

It comes after they finished Thursday's first round outside of the cut-line as they could only muster a five-under 67 in the easier four-ball format, but they were three strokes better than every other team on their second trip around TPC Louisiana.

They are two strokes off the outright leading pair of Wyndham Clark with Beau Hossler, following their 61 with a solid 67 to be the only team at 16 under heading into the weekend.

One stroke behind in a tie for second are the teams of Im Sung-jae with Keith Mitchell and Doc Redman with Sam Ryder, while the Cantlay/Schauffele team are in a five-way tie for fourth.

The highly-rated team of Sam Burns and Billy Horschel are at 11 under in a tie for 20th, where they are joined by strong South Korean duo Tom Kim with Kim Si-woo, and also the Fitzpatrick brothers – Matt and Alex.

One of the favourites coming into the tournament, the team of Max Homa and Collin Morikawa missed the cut at eight under.

Matt Fitzpatrick and his brother Alex shot a four-ball round of 62 on Thursday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to sit one stroke off the lead through 18 holes in the unique format.

The only duos event on the PGA Tour calendar, the pairs of Wyndham Clark with Beau Hossler and Sean O'Hair with Brandon Matthews took the first-round lead with 11-under 61s as each member played every hole, with only the best score from each hole counting towards their team's score.

Hossler contributed seven of his team's 11 birdies, while Matthews had five birdies and an eagle for his pairing.

The Fitzpatrick brothers poured in five birdies each to earn a spot in the five-way tie for second place, joined by the teams of Keith Mitchell with Im Sung-jae, David Lipski with Aaron Rai, Henrik Norlander with Luke List, and Noh Seung-yul with Michael Kim.

Last year's runners-up Sam Burns and Billy Horschel are three strokes off the pace in a logjam at eight under, while one of the strongest teams in the field featuring world number 13 Collin Morikawa and world number seven Max Homa are tied for 43rd at six under.

Reigning champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were disappointing, two strokes outside of the cut-line at five under, but they will hope to claw their way back into things when the format switches to alternate shot foursomes on Friday.