Luke Donald responds to possible Ryder Cup return for Sergio Garcia

Luke Donald has left the door open for Sergio Garcia to make a remarkable Ryder Cup return in 2025.

Garcia resigned his DP World Tour membership last year to focus on LIV Golf  – but Europe’s highest all-time points scorer has still not given up on his dream of making an 11th appearance in blue and gold.

The Spaniard was ineligible for last year’s match at Marco Simone after giving up his DP World Tour card as he faced mounting fines and suspensions while playing on the breakaway LIV league.

But Garcia made the surprise admission on a Rick Shiels podcast last November that he was ready to return to his old domain in 2024 in a bid to revive his Ryder Cup career.

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Strangely, Garcia missed the deadline to reapply in the winter and it is understood that, under current tour regulations, he would need to pay fines upwards of $1million to make a comeback.

Regardless, it appears that the 44-year-old does still intend to regain his membership for the 2025 season, playing the minimum four events that would make him available for the showdown Bethpage Black.

The idea of a Garcia return was floated to the European captain Luke Donald during a roundtable with reporters at the British Masters, the first Ryder Cup qualifying event ahead of next year’s renewal on the outskirts of New York.

“I saw his manager Carlos at The Open and he mentioned something similar,” Donald replied when it was suggested that Garcia plans to renew his membership once more.

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“I sent Sergio a message of congrats when he won Valderrama. Outside of that I haven’t really talked to him about specifics over whether he’s joining (the DP World Tour), but I did speak to his agent and I know he’s been playing quite well.

“The more people we have to choose from the better.”

Donald also addressed the lingering concerns over Jon Rahm’s eligibility after he joined his compatriot Garcia on the breakaway league.

Unlike Garcia, Rahm did not resign his membership when signing for LIV, but the two-time major champ till needs to play in three more DP World Tour events this season to retain his card.

“I’ve had many conversations with Jon,” Donald explained. “He knows what the deal is. Nothing has changed from last year. He knew when he signed for LIV what the policies were on the DP World Tour. You have to play your four per all the policies you can pay the fines or appeal like some of the guys have. He knows that. It’s up to him to do that.

“He certainly mentioned at the PGA Championship he was willing to do whatever it took to commit to me and the team. I hope that happens.”

Tyrrell Hatton is in a similar predicament. The Englishman’s path to meeting his requirements appears slightly clearer than his LIV teammate Rahm, however, as he plays his second DP World Tour event of the season this week at The Belfry.

Hatton has told bunkered.co.uk that he will then tee it up in the Spanish Open and the Dunhill Links Championship to fulfil his membership quota.

“I’m excited to have as many players as I can to choose from and to be eligible, and I’m glad Tyrrell is playing this week,” said Donald. “I hope he can be one of the guys that I can look for next year as someone that’s eligible.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.