Sergio Garcia’s Ryder Cup hopes to improve significantly

The steps necessary for Sergio Garcia to play in next year’s Ryder Cup were simple. What mattered was whether he would agree to take them. And thanks to the latest (expensive) development in the last month, the idea of ​​Garcia joining the European team is looking more and more possible.

Garcia’s Ryder Cup woes began the day he signed the dotted line of a contract with LIV Golf, a rival golf tour that would require Garcia to compete 14 times a year. Each of those weeks will require Garcia to request a conflict of interest exemption form from both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. He immediately started playing LIV Golf – June 2022 – without being disqualified from the tour he was a member of, fined and suspended.

Garcia expected this from the PGA Tour and canceled his membership in America. But he held on to his European Tour membership for a year, collecting more than $1 million in fines and refusing to pay them. There was a belief that perhaps the UK’s sports arbitration panel would rule against the imposition of penalties, but the DP World Tour won that case in April 2023. Months later, Garcia ended his hold and resigned his European membership, giving away something important. in process: his Ryder Cup playing rights.

To compete in the Ryder Cup, European players need to be a member in good standing with the DP World Tour. Garcia’s resignation took him out of the running for Rome in 2023, which would have been his 11th title. The Euros won without him, and captain Luke Donald was honored for his commitment to the DPWT while many players of Donald’s generation (Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Garcia) were not involved.

A year on from that European triumph, it’s clear that Garcia wants to bounce back.

The 44-year-old Spaniard has paid his fines in full and has applied for membership on the DP World Tour, the tour has confirmed to GOLF.com. The deadline to do so was Sunday. BunkeredScottish golf website, was the first to report on Garcia’s move.

Although much time has passed since Garcia’s LIV career, the accounting department at the DP World Tour has not forgotten those fines. They also haven’t forgotten the suspensions he will have to serve – both his previous membership and any suspensions he will receive in the coming months when he starts at LIV Golf.

The high level of the high-level golf tour continues to exist in a situation where the consolidation of business interests – and almost the end of occasional competition penalties – is on the table, but negotiations between the PGA Tour, the Saudi PIF and the DP World Tour are still ongoing, 17 months after they were promised to start. If an agreement is reached, it is understood that Garcia’s future fines and suspensions will be overturned, but there is little clarity on when a deal can be expected.

Currently, Garcia is a Tier 1 member, which means he will be able to compete in any event once he has served his suspension. That suspension period begins soon, as the 2025 DPWT season begins this week in Australia.

Unless Garcia has started to make amends, the way for him to join Team Europe will likely depend on finding one of Donald’s six players to be chosen by the captain next September. Garcia will be on hiatus (or busy with LIV events) for several weeks in the coming calendar to play more on the DP World Tour. He is eligible to play in the Masters as a former champion, but not in one of the three major tournaments. The PGA of America does not disqualify Garcia last spring from the PGA Championship, and he will have to advance to the Final Qualifying for the US Open and Open Championship.

In other words, the number of tournaments in which Garcia can earn enough European Ryder Cup points to automatically qualify for Donald’s list is limited. However, he has shown high quality in the last 12 months at LIV Golf. How much is that for Donald? We will have to ask him when the time comes in 2025. Not only did Garcia win the LIV event in Spain, he also finished second on three separate occasions, ensuring his third place finish on the year-long LIV list behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann. .

The stark reality of how Garcia stacks up against other Ryder Cup hopefuls is best seen via golf analysis site DataGolf. His strong performance at LIV Golf in 2024 ranks Garcia as the 22nd best player in the world right now, alongside the likes of Tony Finau, Wyndham Clark and Tom Kim. It also ranks him as the 8th best European in the world, just behind Shane Lowry. If he were to continue playing at (or better than) that level, the decision will be up to Donald, who doesn’t shy away from the idea. During a year-long press conference in September, Donald said it was up to Garcia to take the necessary steps to qualify, admitting they had phone conversations about Garcia’s desire to rejoin Team Europe.