Sergio Garcia still hopeful of a return to European Ryder Cup team
Sergio Garcia is one of the greatest players in the history of the Ryder Cup and holds several records, both for the European team and the event in general. The Spaniard is hopeful of playing at Bethpage in 2025, although the rules currently do not allow it.
Luke Donald will return as the captain of Team Europe for the upcoming edition, but until March 2025 he cannot count on any of the LIV Golf players (Sergio Garcia among them) due to the rule that only current DP World Tour members can be called up to the team.
Sergio Garcia recently spoke about the issue with Golfweek and was quoted as saying:
"I look at it two ways. If I’m not able to play anymore it’ll be a little bit sad. But at the same time, I look at it that I’ve played many, many times. I’ve been successful in it both individually and as a team. So that’s what I take from it."
"Hopefully, things will kind of settle and, you know, we’ll see where everything sits at the end. And hopefully, they just give us the possibility — all of us — to be a part of it again if we’re playing well enough. We’ll see where that settles in the near future."
European players currently playing in the LIV Golf, such as Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, and Graeme McDowell, among others, lost their DP World Tour cards when they joined the circuit led by Greg Norman.
Reports quoted by Golfweek and others indicate that Sergio Garcia has taken steps to recover his membership, which involves the payment of fines worth approximately $800,000. However, he reportedly missed the deadline to do so in 2024.
A look at Sergio Garcia's Ryder Cup history
Sergio Garcia holds the record for most points won in the history of the Ryder Cup (28.5) and also the record for most matches won, counting both individual and team wins (25).
The Spaniard also holds the record for most points won in foursomes (13.5) and in fourball (10.5), and the latter record is shared with Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal. When Garcia made his debut in the 1999 Ryder Cup at the age of 19 years and 258 days, he became the youngest player in history to participate in the event.
Garcia has been part of 10 European teams in the Ryder Cup (1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021), winning six editions (2002, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2018).
His best performances in the event were in the 2004 edition (he won 4.5 points), 2006 (4 points), 1999 (3.5 points), 2018 and 2021 (3 points in each). His poorest performance was in 2008 when he could only contribute one point to the European victory.