Sergio Garcia’s Ryder Cup return: Pipedream or possibility?

The seed was first planted in Luke Donald’s mind at Royal Troon in July.

It was then on the Ayrshire links that it was reiterated to the European captain that Sergio Garcia was determined not to give up on his Ryder Cup ambition – and was in fact ready to make himself eligible for next year’s tussle at Bethpage.

Garcia was not playing that week – he missed out on The Open in controversial circumstances – but his manager, Carlos Rodriguez, was in attendance at Troon. Donald spoke with Rodriguez, who stated that his player was considering reapplying for his DP World Tour membership in order to make the team.

At a roundtable with reporters at The Belfry before the British Masters a few weeks later, Donald was asked about the notion that Garcia was willing to recover his card.

“I saw his manager Carlos at The Open and he mentioned something similar,” he replied. “I sent Sergio a message of congrats when he won [the LIV event] at Valderrama. Outside of that I haven’t really talked to him about specifics over whether he’s joining, but I did speak to his agent and I know he’s been playing quite well.”

It would appear that things have evolved since then.

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At the belated ‘One Year to Go’ press conference in New York on Tuesday, Donald confirmed that Garcia was mulling over whether to re-join his former domain.

“We chatted on the phone a couple of weeks ago,” Donald revealed. “He’s certainly very interested in doing that. He understands everything that’s involved and the decision has to go to him, whether he’s prepared to do all that. But certainly we’ve had that discussion, yes.”

In a media scrum afterwards, Donald confirmed that his longtime friend wasn’t settling for a role on the sidelines either. “He thinks he can play,” the Englishman added. “He wants to play. I don’t think he has talked to me about being an assistant captain, but again, he would have to re-join the tour for him to be eligible.”

What does Sergio Garcia need to do to play in the 2025 Ryder Cup?

Garcia is desperate to play in an 11th Ryder Cup. The goal is pretty clear. His road to Bethpage is anything but.

So let’s start with the obvious.

Garcia needs to get his DP World Tour card back. The 44-year-old resigned from the Tour last May after a sports arbitration panel ratified the sanctions imposed on him and the others who joined LIV Golf for playing the Saudi-backed events without releases. That made him ineligible for selection for last year’s match at Marco Simone.

At that stage, the DP World Tour stated that Garcia was the only one of the 17 sanctioned LIV players who hasn’t paid the £100,000 initial fine imposed by the sports arbitration panel – “nor has he given any indication that he intends to”.

Garcia faces further penalties reported to be upwards of $2 million (around £1.5m) from the Tour. If he is to be permitted to play on DP World Tour events again, Garcia will need to settle all his outstanding sanctions and serve his suspensions.

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Its worth noting the subplot of potential hostility from the Tour’s rank-and-file if Garcia returns. He has been critical of Wentworth HQ in the sport’s rift and bridges have been burned. Garcia was reported to have acted furiously when he first received punishments, lashing out in an infamous locker room rant at the BMW International Open in Munich two years ago.

It would be daft to assume that any such ruction would put Garcia off, however. That Ryder Cup carrot is far too big and the former Masters champion has a habit of finding himself in uncomfortable settings.

But, as Donald said in New York: “He’d have to follow all the rules and regulations like everyone else. If he does that he will be eligible to partake in the Ryder Cup.”

The deadline for Garcia to reapply for membership ends on the final day of the DP World Tour Championship next month. The clock is ticking.

Would Garcia be a worthy inclusion at Bethpage?

Garcia’s resurgence on LIV Golf this season has been objectively impressive. He finished third in the individual season-standings and inside the top five in six of 14 events. His victory at Valderrama – his favourite course in the world – came a week after his Open Final Qualifying disappointment.

The Spaniard’s LIV showings were bettered by only Joaquin Niemann and his countryman Jon Rahm – the man he combined so well with in an otherwise humbling defeat at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Having appealed their sanctions as DP World Tour members, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton appear more and more likely to be at Bethpage next year. Should he decide to pay his fines, Garcia will believe he too should belong in that race.

However, Europe’s new Ryder Cup qualification criteria does not recognise LIV, so it would still take a mammoth effort for Garcia to make a return. He will likely need a sensational season in the majors to make one of Donald’s six automatic slots, but will need to enter qualifying for the US Open and The Open as things stand.

Should he not qualify automatically, there is then the inevitable question for Donald over whether using a captain’s pick on Garcia is more trouble than its worth. Donald not only has the team dynamic to worry about, but also the likelihood of a merciless Bethpage crowd.

In the 2002 US Open at the same venue, Garcia earned the nickname “Waggle Boy” by the rowdy New York crowd as he gripped and regripped his club during his pre-shot routine. Seven years later at the same event, he faced similar taunts by unruly fans.

It would be fair, then, to assume Garcia’s inclusion would only stoke the flames in the New York heat. Donald, of course, has already started planning for a fervent atmosphere on Long Island and its not like the rest of the European players would be immune from the insults either.

So with Garcia plotting a once unthinkable comeback, Donald may soon have to decide whether the man with 28 and a half points for Team Europe is worth his weight in blue and gold.

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered 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.