Garcia offered to pay off his fines to make a last ditch effort to get into the Ryder Cup, but the DP World Tour denied him.
The Ryder Cup is a little over two weeks away, and the European team is set. Yet Sergio Garcia recently made a last-ditch effort to play in the event. Garcia reportedly offered to pay off his fines in excess of 700,000 euros, according to an article published by The Telegraph Sunday.
The Spaniard was initially fined 100,000 euros for joining the LIV Golf tour. That resulted in the former Masters champion handing in his DP World Tour card in May.
The DP World Tour, however, rebuffed his efforts.
“They suddenly came to us and said that not only would he pay the £100,000 but also all of the outstanding fines if he was allowed to play,” a Tour source said to the Telegraph. “They also said they’d play in whatever events we wanted, apart from those that clashed with the remaining LIV tournaments.”
Garcia is the all-time leading Ryder Cup scorer, but that fact alone was not going to get him off the hook.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
“Despite the ongoing peace talks, as he had resigned his membership, he is not eligible to join until next year. It was all a bit bizarre, as that was made clear all along. As it is, Sergio remains the only one of the LIV players not to have paid the original £100,000 fine. Lee Westwood has paid, Ian Poulter has paid… but Sergio still hasn’t.”
With the amount of LIV Golf tournaments Garcia has played in, his total fines could equate to more than $867,000.
The 11-time PGA Tour winner may have a close relationship with Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, but that didn’t matter. It is understood that Donald was not involved with these discussions and that Garcia had not been a Ryder Cup consideration since he left for LIV Golf.
Jon Rahm and Garcia were among the only bright spots for the Europeans at Whistling Straits in 2021. They won two of three points together. Rahm commented that he felt his fellow Spaniard would be beneficial to the Ryder Cup team from his sheer experience.
Nevertheless, the European Ryder Cup team will be without Garcia but is stacked and playing very well. Nine members of the team finished inside the top 18 at the BMW PGA Championship this weekend, with five in the top nine.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
