Last updated on November 19th, 2024 at 08:26 pm
Sergio Garcia can play in the Ryder Cup next year. However, the golfer must take the necessary steps to qualify for the event due to the recent developments in golf in previous months. As a result, there’s hope that Garcia could be part of the European Team in the future.
Signing a deal with LIV Golf, a competing golf circuit, would force Garcia to participate fourteen times a year, putting him in a precarious position for the Ryder Cup. Garcia would have to submit separate conflicting event release forms to play on either the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour during any of those weeks. Upon joining LIV Golf in June 2022, he immediately began accumulating penalties and bans due to his lack of release from the tours he was a part of.
This was something Garcia expected from the PGA Tour. Therefore, he canceled his membership in the US tour. But he refused to pay almost $1 million fines, which he had incurred while maintaining his membership in the European Tour for a whole year. No such thing happened; in April of 2023, the DP World Tour prevailed in a lawsuit where a British sports arbitration tribunal had previously ruled that the sanctions could not be enforced. According to a pay per head forum, Garcia eventually gave in to pressure and withdrew from his European membership, giving up a significant asset: the opportunity to compete in the Ryder Cup. This move came months after Garcia had been holding out.
Sergio Garcia to Join Ryder Cup Next Year
The Ryder Cup is only open to European players who are current DP World Tour members. This would have been Garcia’s eleventh consecutive Cup, but had he not resigned, he would not have been eligible to compete in Rome in 2023. He wasn’t a part of the Euros’ victory. While many of his contemporaries—including Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, and Lee Westwood—were not engaged, captain Luke Donald was praised for his dedication to the DPWT. A year after his triumph in Europe, Garcia has made his desire to return obvious.
According to sports news reports, the DP World Tour announced that the 44-year-old Spaniard had paid his fines in full and asked to become a member. That task was due on Sunday. The news of Garcia’s shift broke initially on Bunkered, a golf website based in Scotland.
A lot of time has gone since Garcia’s LIV career began, but the DP World Tour’s accounting department will never forget those fines. The suspensions that he is forced to serve, both from his former membership and those that may be imposed in the months to come when he starts playing on LIV Golf, have also not escaped their notice.
Golf Negotiations in Stalemate
After promising to begin negotiations 17 months ago, the PGA Tour, the Saudi PIF, and the DP World Tour are still at it. The upper echelon of professional golf tours is at a standstill as they consider merging their business interests and, hopefully, lifting sanctions for competing at certain times. There is no indication of when an agreement would be reached, but it is reasonable to assume that any penalties or suspensions that Garcia may face would be canceled if one were to be reached.
Meanwhile, Garcia may attend pretty much any event after he pays his suspension period because he is a Category 1 member. This week in Australia marks the beginning of the 2025 DPWT season, meaning that suspension time begins immediately.
Even though Garcia is making apologies, he still needs one of Donald’s six captain’s choices next September to join Team Europe. Garcia will miss too much time on the DP World Tour due to suspensions or LIV tournaments over the next several weeks to play much. As a past winner, he can compete in the Masters but is ineligible for the other three majors. Garcia will have to go through Final Qualifying for the U.S. Open and Open Championship as the PGA of America did not provide a special invitation to the PGA Championship last spring.
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