Sergio Garcia holding onto Ryder Cup dream, says Europe captain Luke Donald will need his strongest team to beat US
- Spaniard is eligible to play for Europe, but will need to be picked because his LIV membership stops him earning his way onto the team
- The 43-year-old begins his season at this week’s PIF Saudi International before moving onto the Asian Tour’s next stop in Oman
A fit-again Sergio Garcia has not given up on his chances of playing in this year’s Ryder Cup, but knows he will need to be one of captain Luke Donald’s picks if that is to happen.
The Spaniard has won more points, 28½, than anyone in the competition’s history, and said Donald would need the strongest team available if he wanted to beat the US in Rome in September.
Garcia was a member of the side that was hammered 19-9 at Whistling Straits Golf Course two years ago, a victory the Americans hailed as “just the beginning” for their youngest side ever.
“We can never go there with a weak team and expect to beat the Americans, even if we’re playing in Europe,” Garcia said. “So we’ll see, there’s still a lot of months to go until we get there.”
As a member of LIV Golf, whether he, Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood play is almost entirely down to Donald, unless there is a rapid change in the rules surrounding the awarding of world ranking points, something Garcia said “would be nice”.
“I can’t qualify on my own, I have to be a pick and it doesn’t matter how well I play,” Garcia said. “So, the only thing I can do is just to try to play the best I can, and see if Luke thinks I’m good enough to be a part of the team.
“If not, then we’ll be home, it’s as simple as that.”
Three months off over the winter has allowed Garcia to recover from an operation on his left knee, which he had after LIV’s season-ending team championship in Miami last October.
Now feeling “about 95 per cent”, Garcia said it didn’t bother him to swing the club any more and it was just a case of getting used to walking holes “over and over and over again”.
His new season begins at the PIF Saudi International at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club on Thursday, before the Asian Tour’s International Series kicks off in Oman at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat next week. Then it is on to the big LIV Golf season opener in Mexico.
“I am excited about a new season after a nice break,” the 43-year-old said. “I am excited to get going and see if we can do some nice things.”
Preparations will be a bit different ahead of The Masters at Augusta National in April for Garcia, as he is no longer playing on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour.
“After three months off, I want to get some rounds in me,” he said. “So I will have those four tournament s heading into Augusta, and it is just a matter of getting in a good rhythm and get to Augusta in as good shape as I can.”
There had been questions over the participation of the LIV players at this year’s majors, with some pushing for their exclusion because of the decision to join the Saudi-backed league.
Garcia got his formal invitation just before Christmas and said for a club that talked about “honouring the traditions of the game”, leaving out past champions such as himself, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson would have been weird.
He also pushed back at any notion there would be tension at the Champions dinner, despite John Rahm suggesting otherwise.
“I know when I returned to Augusta as the Masters champion in 2018, how special it was for me to be honoured by my fellow champions for what I have achieved a year earlier, and that’s why it will be special for Scottie Scheffler this year when he honour him,” Garcia said.
“There will be no tension at the dinner, at all. Each of us attending the dinner are Augusta champions, and you walk into the room treating everyone with respect.”
