Sergio Garcia has admitted he is disappointed he won't be playing in this year's Ryder Cup, and that he will miss compatriot Jon Rahm, who has already booked his place on European captain Luke Donald's team.
Garcia is the record Ryder Cup points scorer, but his involvement in this year’s match was jeopardised when he moved to LIV Golf.
Back in May, the Spaniard revealed that Donald had told him he had no chance of making the team, and that prompted Rahm to say it was "sad politics have gotten in the way" of the competition. Rahm also said: “I'm going to miss him. We had a great partnership at Whistling Straits."
Garcia is preparing to play in this week’s LIV Golf Bedminster event, and he admitted the feeling was mutual. He said: “Yeah, we've talked a lot about it, him and I. Obviously, yeah, everyone knows how much I love the Ryder Cup and the bonds that we've been able to build and are created in those Ryder Cups.
“Obviously Jon is no different. We had a great time. We obviously are good friends, and our friendship kind of got even stronger after the last Ryder Cup. Yeah, it is going to be a shame. I will miss him, too. But hopefully he'll find another partner that suits him, and they can do well together.”
The 43-year-old may be resigned to sitting out this year’s Ryder Cup following a run of 10 appearances in succession, but he wasn’t prepared to write off his chances of competing in future matches, despite feeling disappointment at the current situation.
He said: “Yes, I would love to, obviously. Yes, it is disappointing to see that I'm not going to be able to be part of the Ryder Cup this year and the DP World Tour for the same matter. But it is what it is.
“At the end of the day, I'm happy where I am, and that doesn't change. But I also want to kind of move on and concentrate on the events that I have left and focus on that because we have enough things in our heads to put more stuff in there and make it even tougher.
“But at the end of the day, hopefully there will be a way back and something that we can work on, and we'll see what happens in the future.”
‘We Know We Can Do It’
For now, Garcia will turn his attentions to another team – his Fireballs GC. The team is currently sixth in the LIV Golf standings, with one win this season, in Tuscon.
However, good performances in the three remaining regular tournaments could see the team as high as fourth, which would give it a bye for the opening day of the season-closing Team Championship in Jeddah. That’s something Garcia admitted he was working towards.
He said: “We know we need three good weeks to get into the top four. It's going to take - it's probably going to take at least three podiums, if not better than just second and third, because everyone else is playing, too, and they can also have good weeks.
“It's going to take a lot of good work. I think unfortunately we left ourselves more work than we would have liked to for these last three events, but we know we can do it. I have faith in my teammates. Hopefully we'll start with a great week here and kind of keep it going into Chicago and Jeddah.”
