LIV Golf pro Sergio Garcia wants to play in the Ryder Cup again, and the first requirement to do so is to be a member of the DP World Tour. One problem: Garcia resigned his tour membership last year as he focused on LIV Golf.
In a recently-released interview with Rick Shiels that was recorded in November, Garcia sounded confident in his ability to rejoin the European circuit this season in order to play his way onto the European team.
“I am going to be a member again of the European Tour,” Garcia said. “I always said that I wanted to, when I joined LIV, keep being a member of the DP World Tour. Obviously they didn’t make it too easy to be able to do that, [but] I want to give myself the best possibility of playing the Ryder Cup.”
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But in a new report by James Corrigan in The Telegraph, anonymous DP World Tour insiders quickly threw cold water on Sergio’s hopes, telling Corrigan they were “baffled” by his comments in the podcast interview.
According to Corrigan’s sources, Garcia faces several hurdles to regain DP World Tour membership.
First, he must pay off a reported £893,000 in fines he’s racked up since leaving for LIV, an equivalent to about $1.13 million USD. Then, he’d need to formally reapply for membership, but he already missed the first deadline to do so back in November, and he might not be eligible for a May 1 deadline for “exceptional circumstances”.
“He is probably hoping a deal is worked out in the current negotiations with PIF, and there is an amnesty and a clear pathway back,” sources told Corrigan. “But there is a strong feeling among the tour’s rank and file that the fines will have to be honored first – and Sergio has only so far offered to pay if he could be considered for the Ryder Cup.”
Further complicating matters is what Garcia will have to do after he pays the fines and reapplies for membership. Even then, he would have to serve a reported nine-week ban before entering any events.
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In his interview with Shiels, Garcia didn’t seem to acknowledge just how difficult his road back to the DP World Tour and the Ryder Cup would be, despite having been told the details by the tour when he made a similar effort before last year’s Ryder Cup.
“Only playing a handful of events, it is not easy to make it unless you do super well,” Garcia told Shiels. “But I guess at the end of the day if I am eligible, they see I am making the effort and I do well with LIV and I am consistent then at least hopefully I can be considered, not only because of my game but what I can bring to the team, and my history in the event.”
