Rory McIlroy - Ryder mainstays missed, but they'll regret absence - ESPN

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy — Rory McIlroy admitted it's strange not having the likes of Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood as part of this year's Ryder Cup, but he said the ramifications of their decision to join LIV Golf will «hit home» this week as the 2023 competition gets underway.

This is the first Ryder Cup since 1995 where not one of Poulter, Garcia, Westwood or Graeme McDowell have been part of the European team. All four joined LIV Golf and resigned from the DP World Tour in the process, which made them ineligible for selection for the Ryder Cup.

The four have all been a part of McIlroy's Ryder Cup journey as he embarks on his seventh tournament against the United States at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. McIlroy has been a vocal critic of LIV Golf from the outset and said Wednesday that those who opted to join the breakaway league rather than preserve their Ryder Cup availability will realize what they are missing out on this week.

«It's certainly a little strange not having them around,» McIlroy said of his former teammates. «But I think this week of all weeks, it's going to hit home with them that, you know, they are not here, and I think they are going to miss being here more than we're missing them.»

Only one LIV golfer will be at the Ryder Cup, as American Brooks Koepka was a selection of U.S. captain Zach Johnson.

The absentees have been spoken about this week, and McIlroy's teammate Jon Rahm has been picking the brains of Poulter and Garcia ahead of the competition.

«He [Garcia] showed me a lot of what to do at Whistling [Straits in 2021] and in Paris [in 2018],» Rahm said. «I did have a little bit of a chat with him, as recently as [Monday] and with Poulter as well. It's not going to be