Nick Faldo: Sergio Garcia is ‘done’ at Ryder Cup

Sir Nick Faldo says Sergio Garcia and his LIV Golf colleagues are “done” at the Ryder Cup as he laughed off claims Team Europe are weakened without their exiled stars.

Europe’s all-time leading points scorer Garcia will play no part in the showdown in Rome, but only after making a last-ditch attempt to resurrect his career in blue-and-gold in time for the match at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.

The Telegraph reports that the Spaniard offered to pay up to £700,000 of fines he had incurred for switching to LIV in a late bid to make himself eligible for the Luke Donald’s team.

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But those attempts were quickly rebuffed by DP World Tour bosses as he was reminded that, as he had already resigned his membership from the circuit, there was no way he could make an extraordinary return.

Faldo, an 11-time Ryder Cup player and losing captain in 2008, thinks “the game has moved on.”

He insists the LIV players who ditched the DP World Tour should have no future involvement in the contest.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” he told Golf Today when asked if Donald would miss Garcia and co. “I think we have got one of the strongest teams we’ve ever had, plus those [LIV] guys have not played in enough tournaments.

“They’re in a different world now, they have left the Tour and haven’t supported the Tour, so hey, they are done and that’s it. The team has moved on, the game has moved on, and Team Europe is fantastic. I don’t think they could do anything better.

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“They have got a really big deep backbone with guys that have been around before. We might even have a couple of very interesting secret rookies up our sleeve, which I think is very powerful.”

Faldo, of course, has a chequered past with Garcia.

Six years on from Europe’s defeat under Faldo at Valhalla in 2008, he claimed Garcia was “useless” in the match and accused him of a “bad attitude.”

And earlier this year, the six-time major champion called Garcia “the most immature player I’ve ever witnessed” after he had claimed Rory McIlroy “lacked maturity” over their old feud.

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.