PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Moments after earning his best major finish of 2025—T-33, at the time of writing, at the 2025 British Open—Sergio Garcia turned his attention to the Ryder Cup under a barrage of questions from the gathered press. Would his three-under 281 performance at Royal Portrush be enough to earn a spot on Luke Donald’s European squad?
In response, he rejected the premise of the question. “I don’t think it’s the last chance, to be totally honest,” he said. “I think there’s still a good amount of weeks left.”
Garcia, who missed the cut at the Masters, finished T-67 at the PGA Championship and failed to qualify for the U.S. Open, will clearly be leaning heavily on a few alternate factors. First, his LIV Golf performance, where he’s currently fifth in the season standings with a victory in Hong Kong earlier in the year.
“Obviously a little bit of a dip after the Masters,” Garcia conceded. “I played nicely in Dallas, I just had a couple of bad finishes in a couple of rounds. Then obviously played very nicely in Valderrama, didn’t really putt well at all and still finished top 10.”
It’s “no secret” that he and Donald have been talking. Along with his finishes on LIV, Garcia’s campaign to make the team relies heavily on experience—the 45-year-old Spaniard has the won most points of any player in the history of the event, accumulating 28½ across 10 previous Ryder Cups. He last played at Whistling Straits in 2021, where he earned three points despite Europe’s blowout loss.
“I think that I can bring things to any team that would probably need it,” he said. “Obviously going into the U.S., going into New York, experience is always good, mostly because you’re still going to have some rookies there, and I think those experienced guys have a great job to do there to make sure that those rookies know what they’re getting into. … At the end of the day, when you’re out there on the course, it’s nice to have one of those experienced guys to put their arm around you and make you feel like don’t worry, I’ve got you, when people are shouting at you and screaming and wishing you all the bad things that you can think of. It’s easy to kind of go get in a little shell and kind of get smaller.”
Garcia cited his own rookie experience with Jesper Parnevik, who he credited for making a difficult situation at Brookline in 1999 much easier.
The elephant in the room is Garcia’s move to LIV Golf. Although the Americans included a LIV player in Brooks Koepka in 2023, thus far no European has been on the team. That will likely change with Garcia’s fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm lined up to be a captain’s pick, which may make the path easier. Regardless, Garcia said Donald has given him assurances that the only criteria he’ll be judged on is what happens on the course, rather than anything political.
“That’s what he’s told me,” Garcia said. “It’s just about how my game is and what I can bring, what I can add to the team, as simple as that.”
His partnership with Rahm may be a boon to his candidacy. The two are good friends and went 3-0 as partners in Whistling Straits. Garcia said he’s been watching YouTube videos of their matches recently, a clear sign that he’s thinking about the possibility, and he said he believes that Rahm wants him on site.
“You would think so,” he said. “Jon and I are good friends … we gel nicely together. Obviously it’s easy to play with Jon because he’s so good.”
Garcia’s success with Jon Rahm in 2021 might help him get the nod from captain Luke Donald for the 2025 European team.
Keyur Khamar
Rahm, who finished moments later, seemed to be in favor of the idea.
“It would be quite unique,” he said. “He would be a fantastic guy obviously with his Ryder Cup experience, how he played in the Northeast and actually having played at Bethpage, having played well at Bethpage in the past, so somebody that’s familiar with the golf course. He’s definitely somebody that should be in Luke’s radar.”
To Rahm’s point, Garcia also touted his experience at Bethpage Black, where he finished fourth in 2002 at the U.S. Open, and tied for 10th in 2009.
“It was a long time ago because I haven’t played in a long time,” he said. “We’ll see. It depends. That’s obviously something nice to have. I’ve done really well there pretty much every time I’ve played there, I think.”
What’s clear for Garcia is that he’ll certainly have to rely on Donald for a pick, since his choice to play at LIV now makes it impossible for him to qualify automatically. There are a few months to go, and concluding his remarks, Garcia refused to tip his hand as to what Donald may decide.
“I wish I could have a crystal ball and see the future,” he said, “but unfortunately, I cannot.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
