Henrik Stenson stripped of Ryder Cup captaincy after defecting to Saudis' LIV rebel series

Henrik Stenson has been stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy after becoming the latest capture for the Saudi rebel circuit.

The 46-year-old's dramatic U-turn sends shockwaves throughout the sport and is a huge coup for the LIV Golf Series. Stenson, the 2016 Open champion and former world No 2, is now down in 171st in the rankings, without a title in almost three years and his best days are clearly in the past. 

But his move to the Greg Norman enterprise shows that LIV has the ammunition to convince players to join even from seemingly the most unreachable of places. It is understood that his signing-on fee will be near the £40 million mark and that he is primed to appear in next week’s third £20m LIV event in New Jersey. 

LIV named 45 of that 48-man field on Tuesday with no surprises but it is believed the other three will be new names - including Stenson - with the starting sheet completed by Thursday.

Former US President Donald Trump happens to be the owner of the venue in Bedminster and with Stenson’s controversial patronage, the game is preparing for one of the most contentious tournaments it has ever witnessed.

Telegraph Sport exclusively revealed on Monday that the DP World Tour - formerly European Tour - had arranged to talk with Stenson on Tuesday after all the rumours and whispers that produced a constant backdrop to last week’s 150th Open Championship at St Andrews.

Sources say that the feeling within Wentworth HQ was that Stenson would ask if it would be possible to fulfil his duties in Rome next year and at the same time play on the LIV Series. Although Stenson signed a contract in March that stipulated he could not play on the breakaway league, the recent court case that saw Ian Poulter win an injunction to