Sergio Garcia sets Ryder Cup aim before start of LIV Golf season
Sergio Garcia sets Ryder Cup aim before start of LIV Golf season
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Sergio Garcia has claimed he will play enough events this season to qualify for a record-equalling 11th Ryder Cup appearance in September. The LIV Golf star paid nearly £1m in fines to buy back his membership to the DP World Tour last November after talks with his friend and captain Luke Donald. The 2017 Masters champion is now ranked world No.471 but can play in Augusta as a past winner and has been invited to the US PGA in May. And the USGA announced this week that the top ranked non-exempt LIV player will be invited to the US Open in June.
Speaking before the first LIV Golf event of the season in Riyadh, Garcia told Al Arabiya: "I love the Ryder Cup. Everyone knows that. It’s my favourite event of the year in golf. I think that we’re members of the European Tour again, of the DP World Tour. That was the first criteria to be eligible to be a part of the Ryder Cup. “Now it’s going to depend on how I play throughout the year. And hopefully, with the amount of tournaments that I’m going to play, hopefully if I play really, really well I can make it on my own.
“If not, then obviously I will depend on a pick from the captain from Luke Donald. But we’ll see. The only thing I can do is play the best golf that I can play and then see where that kind of puts me.” Garcia is already the record Ryder Cup points scorer and will match the appearance record set by Lee Westwood and Sir Nick Faldo if he makes the team at Bethpage Black in September. The Spaniard, 45, had resigned his DP World Tour membership in May 2023 after an arbitration panel found in favour of the DP World Tour and ratified its right to fine and ban players who competed in LIV Golf events without permission. He has been serving a ban but he is now aiming to return to the DP World Tour at the BMW International Open in Munich in July.
Garcia will be 47 when the next Ryder Cup is staged in Europe at Adare Manor in 2027. “I would love to be playing still,” said the Spaniard. Obviously there have been some talks or there were some talks about maybe the possibility of me being the captain there. But obviously my focus as of now is on playing and hopefully making a few more Ryder Cups if my game is good enough. "And when that doesn’t happen, then we can try to focus on other things. But I don’t want to think about that until I know that I’m not good enough to be a part of it.”.
