In order to avoid paying fines for transferring to LIV, Poulter and Westwood resigned from the DP World Tour last year.
But Poulter stated he still had hope of being able to lead Europe as captain in an interview with Al Arabiya English, external.
The senior duo’s absence from the European circuit, which comes after a contentious divorce, in the opinion of Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, prevents that from happening.
“I just think with the current state of where everything is, you need someone that’s around and showing their face as much as they can,” McIlroy, the golfer, said.
Since they are currently somewhere else, that really just cannot be them.”
Disagreement has erupted in the men’s game since the advent of LIV, which is financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to the tune of $2 billion (£1.6 billion).
The PGA and DP World Tours declared in June 2023 that they had reached a “framework agreement” to combine with PIF.
But there’s still no agreement to put a stop to golf’s civil conflict.
