Rebels creating an ‘all-out war’

LIV GOLF defectors stand accused of starting an ‘allout war’ in the sport and trying to ‘take down’ the PGA and DP World Tours by colleagues who have resisted signing up to the Saudi-backed enterprise. Henrik Stenson was stripped of Team Europe’s Ryder Cup captaincy after becoming the latest golf rebel, following in the footsteps of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and others. Yesterday, one professional — who has represented Europe at the Ryder Cup but would only speak anonymously as ‘Mr X’ — said those joining the LIV series have created a toxic split among the players. ‘It’s so disappointing,’ Mr X told the i newspaper. ‘As an amateur, I had a couple of pictures on my practice notebooks. One of Tiger (Woods), one of Sergio. ‘The things he (Garcia) has said over the past few weeks are shocking. He walks in the locker room in Germany (BMW International Open in June) on Saturday night and starts ranting in front of Bob MacIntyre and a few other guys, basically saying: “You are all f****d, I can’t wait to leave this tour”.

‘I don’t understand how you get to that point if you are a decent person. ‘Why get bitter? You started out on this platform. Why are you taking it down?’ Feeling the rebels are betraying their roots, Mr X added: ‘I don’t know how this ends. It’s all-out war. I don’t know how it’s got to the point where players are having a go at the tour that gave them the platform to take the opportunity with LIV. ‘No one has a problem with them going. Just don’t feel you have to diss the tour... it’s so obvious why they are there. The cash. Just say so.’ Sportsmail revealed this week how Europe and the United States risk breaching contracts worth millions of pounds with broadcast and commercial partners which threatens to jeopardise the future of the Ryder Cup if they exclude the LIV rebels.