Exclusive: Henrik Stenson facing crunch talks over Ryder Cup captaincy due to LIV Golf contract clause

Henrik Stenson will meet with the DP World Tour on Tuesday as speculation increases that Europe’s Ryder Cup captain is about to join the Saudi rebel circuit.

Rumours were rife at last week’s Open Championship, with Sky Sports reporting on Sunday night that Stenson is “expected” to be announced as the LIV Golf Series’ latest convert and will be immediately “stripped of the captaincy” for next year’s match in Rome. 

Stenson missed the cut at St Andrews where he had the chance to deny the story but he would only utter a “no comment”. On Twitter, Eddie Pepperell, the multiple Tour winner posted: “I’d heard Henrik was going weeks ago… truly insane money.”

Stenson’s refusal to kill the rumours stone dead, as well as the ever-louder whispers, convinced the DP World Tour - formerly the European Tour - to seek out the 46-year-old for assurances, with a meeting set for Tuesday. As well as Tour chief executive Keith Pelley, it will also involve his right-hand man Guy Kinnings. 

If they do not receive the guarantees they require then they will point out the scale of the impending U-turn and the legal commitment he undertook when accepting the job.

When Stenson earned the nod over Luke Donald to be named as Padraig Harrington’s successor, there were concerns about the potential of the 2016 Open champion being lured to LIV as it was known that he had been mulling a $30 million offer, the same deal ultimately accepted by Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. 

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