Jacklin: Ryder Cup legacy 'is done' | 'Golf is in a big mess'

Former major champion Tony Jacklin believes golf is in a "mess" and fears the Ryder Cup legacy is under threat if LIV Golf players are prevented from featuring in the biennial contest.

Henrik Stenson was removed as Europe's next captain after confirming he would be joining the Saudi-backed circuit earlier this week, following on from several of his former Ryder Cup team-mates.

Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer are among the European stalwarts already on the breakaway tour, putting their Ryder Cup futures in jeopardy, while USA captain Zach Johnson has already confirmed that any LIV players will be ineligible to feature on his team in Rome.

"The Ryder Cup legacy right now, as it sits, is done," Jacklin told Sky Sports. "We're not going to have a Ryder Cup and we're not going to have a Presidents Cup as we've come to know them - it's a mess.

"If players are getting banned and all of a sudden you've got 10 guys you can't pick, maybe more - who you going to end up with? It's not the best of America against the best of Europe, it just becomes any exhibition.

"Everybody's sort of thinking that the Ryder Cup brand is bigger than anything and that it's the crown jewel of our game, but how can it be that when you don't have their best representation?

"They [Ryder Cup Europe] are soldering on as if all is going to be fine and John Wayne is going to ride in with the cavalry at the end and save everything. Right now, from where I'm sitting, I don't see that."

The LIV Golf series consists of 54-hole, no-cut events offering huge prize purses, with guaranteed pay-outs regardless of finishing position and a team competition running alongside the individual contest.

"You can't replicate these [Ryder Cup]