Is this the best way to spend the final week of Ryder Cup qualifying, Sergio?

You probably already know but this week is the final week of qualifying for the European Ryder Cup team.

The Made In Denmark and Dell Technologies Championship are the final two chances for Euros to either claim the last of the eight automatic places for Thomas Bjorn’s side or, at the very least, impress the captain sufficiently enough to earn one of his four wild cards.

The identities of those players will be revealed next Wednesday live on Sky Sports Golf, and one man hoping to get the nod is Sergio Garcia.

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The Spaniard, a stalwart of eight Ryder Cups, cannot qualify automatically for the side, languishing in 23rd and 13th place on the European and World Points Lists respectively. The top four players on each list qualify automatically.

He failed to qualify for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, too, making him ineligible for The Northern Trust last week and this week’s Dell Technologies Championship.

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He opted not to play in last week’s Czech Masters and decided to skip this week’s Made In Denmark, too. Unsurprisingly, that has raised some eyebrows.

After a miserable season, surely he would have hoped to find some form or show Bjorn a flicker of the old magic ahead of next week’s announcements?

Apparently not.

Instead, whilst Thorbjorn Olesen, Matt Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell slug it out for the last remaining place on the side, and the likes of Rafa Cabrera Bello, Paul Casey and Thomas Pieters hope to do enough to earn one of Bjorn’s picks, Garcia is back home in Spain – playing in a charity poker tournament.

The 38-year-old is taking part in the event in Barcelona for the benefit of his charity, the Sergio Garcia Foundation.

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“Usually I can’t come because I’m in the US playing in the Playoffs, but this year it worked out; it’s been a nice way to disconnect a little bit,” he told gambling.com.

The high stakes game also attracted the world’s most expensive footballer, Neymar, and his former FC Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique.

Full marks to Sergio for the fantastic work he does for his charity, and the excellent work it, in turn, does. However, if he really wants to be picked for the Ryder Cup, playing poker when others are busting a gut to make the side is a pretty bad look.