Inside Sergio Garcia’s complicated (and costly) Ryder Cup decision

The 2025 Ryder Cup press conference with captains Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald in New York earlier this week was little more than a formality. The event was held to mark that we are roughly 12 months away from Team USA taking on Team Europe at Bethpage Black next fall. Still, buried within the presser came plenty of intrigue about a particular Ryder Cup legend: Sergio Garcia. 

We weren’t expecting to hear news about Garcia, a LIV golfer ranked 390th in the world, but that’s because there’s plenty of smoke in the game right now. You have to wade through it. Garcia has played like one of the best players on the planet for the majority of 2024 — DataGolf ranks him 22nd — and would benefit Europe in a playing capacity. At the very least he could serve in an assistant captain role, too. But he has some work to do first. 

Garcia’s name came up during the press conference in a very blatant way: What does Sergio Garcia need to do to have a chance to make the team? Donald volunteered some information we didn’t previously know: that the European captain has been in touch with Garcia in recent weeks, and the Spaniard is considering making moves to rejoin the DP World Tour, a necessary step if Garcia has any hope of playing for Donald next fall. 

“Well, first of all, obviously he resigned his membership a couple years ago,” Donald said Tuesday. “But we have had some chats. He’s considering rejoining. He’d have to follow all the rules and regulations like everyone else, and if he does that, again, he will be eligible to partake in the Ryder Cup.”

A natural follow-up question came a few minutes later. Do you think that’s a serious option?

“Yeah, we chatted on phone a couple weeks ago,” Donald said. “You know, he’s certainly very interested in doing that. He understands everything that’s involved, and again, the decision has to go to him, whether he’s prepared to do all that.”

Most golf fans have been made aware of the Ryder Cup accessibility regulations in recent months, as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have strained their schedule (and filed appeals) to play at least four tournaments on the DPWT to maintain membership for 2025. The only way to qualify for the Ryder Cup team is to first be a member.

Garcia’s plight is similar but different. The 44-year-old was among a number of LIV players who were once DPWT members and fined for taking part in tournaments without a conflicting event release form. Garcia was one of the only LIVers to stubbornly refuse to pay those fines, ultimately resigning his DP membership in 2023. To regain membership, those fines must first be paid, a decision already adjudicated by an arbitration judge.

If Garcia does apply for membership (his agent did not reply to a request for confirmation), he can thank his former self for making that process easy. Thanks to ranking fourth on the DPWT career money list — and because he has won a number of times on the DPWT (including a major) — Garcia would qualify via the Legends category. While Garcia’s reinstatement pursuit appears strictly about playing in one specific event next September, the Legends categorization would also allow him easy entry into almost any DPWT event he would like to play … so long as he has paid his fines and served suspensions, or filed an appeal similar to what his LIV stablemates, Hatton and Rahm, did this summer.

It’s that last point that is the stickiest. Garcia is contracted to play a full 2025 LIV Golf schedule, which would include 14 tournaments from February through September. Depending on how the events lay out on the calendar — LIV’s schedule is not finalized yet — Garcia would have to serve 14 weeks worth of DPWT suspension and also pay 14 weeks worth of fines. As it currently stands, members who compete on LIV Golf during weeks where the DPWT is hosting an event receive a £100,000 fine.

In short, it’s going to cost Garcia plenty of money to make this Ryder Cup reality come true, but it seems like something he is keen to do. James Corrigan reported for The Telegraph in 2023 that Garcia was ready and willing to repay his fines for a spot in the Ryder Cup held in Rome. That tally, Corrigan reported, had reached £700,000. LIV has even entertained the idea of paying fines on behalf of its players. Bob Harig reported for Sports Illustrated that LIV approached the DPWT about paying Jon Rahm’s fines, but was denied.

In the end, if this saga plays out like Garcia seems to want, it’ll come down to him earning one of Captain Donald’s six wildcard picks. Ryder Cup Europe recently announced the qualifying criteria, which notably does not take into account any performances on LIV Golf. Garcia shined in LIV events this year, winning once and finishing second three times. How does that rank for Donald? We will have to wait and ask him as the results roll in next summer.

Garcia could certainly perform better in major championships, but that would begin with him actually getting in to major championships. As a former Masters champion, Garcia will have a tee time in Augusta in April, but no other majors are guaranteed to be part of his schedule. He will be relying on an invite from the PGA Championship or advancing through final qualifying for the U.S. Open and Open Championship. He has not finished in the top 10 of a major since winning the Masters in 2017.