Tag: Sergio Garcia

Report: Sergio Garcia offered to pay nearly $1 million in fines in effort to make Ryder Cup

It was a last-ditch effort to join the European Ryder Cup team.

Just how badly did Sergio Garcia want to play in next week’s Ryder Cup in Rome?

According to a report by the Telegraph, Garcia, who resigned his DP World Tour membership after joining LIV, went to great lengths to help his own cause, offering to pay nearly a million dollars in fines to the DP World Tour.

In a last-ditch effort to be a part of the European squad, Garcia’s offer was for £700,000, or about $867,000, according to golf writer Jamie Corrigan.

Jon Rahm has openly campaigned for Garcia, his fellow Spaniard who boasts the most wins in Ryder Cup history, to be allowed to play in the upcoming Ryder Cup.

Garcia, along with the likes of former European Ryder Cup stalwarts such as Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer were deemed ineligible to be selected to Luke Donald’s Euro squad because one of the requirements is to be a member of the DP World Tour, which runs the European side for the biennial matches. Garcia resigned in May.

The 43-year-old former Masters champion has played for LIV Golf since 2022 and initially refused to pay a hefty fine to the DP World Tour, scheduled to get underway in Italy on Sept. 29. The tour reportedly declined his offer.

In 10 total appearances at the Ryder Cup, Garcia has a 25-13-7 record.

Garcia will be competing near Chicago this week at the next LIV Golf event, the 12th of 14 events on the 2023 schedule.

Jon Rahm goes to bat once again for Sergio Garcia to be involved at the Ryder Cup

“I think it would be really stupid of anybody not to lean on Sergio García’s experience in the Ryder Cup.”

LIV Golf will be solely represented by Brooks Koepka at the upcoming 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.

If Jon Rahm had it his way, more players who left for the upstart circuit would be involved, especially on his European side. The world No. 3 has often gone to bat for LIV player and fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia, and he did so again ahead of this week’s 2023 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, England.

“I think it would be really stupid of anybody not to lean on Sergio García’s experience in the Ryder Cup,” said Rahm when asked if he would like to see his friend back in the fold as a vice captain. “I mean, he is the best player Europe has ever had, won the most points and has shown it time and time again. If he were able to be a vice captain, I absolutely would lean on him. Same as we are going to lean on (Jose Maria Olazabal) this coming Ryder Cup, right.”

The future Ryder Cup prospects for players who joined LIV Golf are largely still uncertain as the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund continue to iron out the details of their proposed new golf entity. In order to represent Team Europe, a player must be a member of the DP World Tour. In May, Garcia and fellow European stalwarts Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood resigned their membership to the European-based tour.

MORE: Meet the 2023 European Ryder Cup team

“When it comes to the game and all those players being able to be back, it’s been a difficult time,” said Rahm. “Obviously things have changed a little bit. I wouldn’t know how to answer because we are going to have to see if it’s possible or not, right?

“I would like to see it but unfortunately we’ve seen some of those players give up their (DP World) Tour status where that’s no longer a possibility,” he continued. “So I would like to see it but we don’t know what the future holds, right? I think with this agreement or this possible union between the PGA Tour, DP World and PIF might change things a little bit.”

The Americans will look to win on foreign soil for the first time in 30 years later this month at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy, Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Rahm will make his third appearance for the European side (2018, 2021, 2023) and boasts a 4-3-1 record in the event. Garcia is the second-most capped player with 10 appearances behind Lee Westwood (11) but leads the all-time points list at 28.5 thanks to a stellar 25–13–7 record.

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LIV Golf players dish on if they even want to return to the PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson said “not a single” LIV Golf player wanted to return to the PGA Tour and his colleagues backed him up.

As the powers that be continue to iron out details for the proposed framework agreement that aims to unite professional golf, one of the biggest questions is what must happen for players who left for LIV Golf to return to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

Phil Mickelson didn’t mince words when he recently claimed “not a single player” who joined LIV Golf wanted to play on the PGA Tour. Are there some events players have fond memories of and wish they could play? Absolutely. But a full PGA Tour schedule, or even an abbreviated one, doesn’t sound appealing to the vast majority of those who made the leap to the 48-player, 12-team league.

We asked a handful of players what they thought ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Bedminster event at Trump National in New Jersey, and the answers were very similar.

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LIV Golf’s European stalwarts holding out hope for future inclusion in Ryder Cup

“At the end of the day, I’m happy where I am, and that doesn’t change,” said Sergio Garcia.

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BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Henrik Stenson was slated to be the European Ryder Cup captain for the upcoming matches in Italy later this year. Then he joined LIV Golf last summer and saw his captaincy removed.

Sergio Garcia has been a stalwart for the Euros since his debut in the biennial bash back in 1999. His current lackluster form may not have led the all-time points leader – 28 ½ with a 25-13-7 record – to one of the 12 spots on the roster, but the 43-year-old Spaniard would be a shoe-in as a vice captain at the very least. Then he resigned his DP World Tour membership, removing himself from consideration.

Because of their own decisions, neither player will be present at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, to help the Europeans reclaim the cup. That said, they’re both hopeful to don the blue and yellow in future matches.

“Yes, I would love to, obviously. 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,” said Garcia ahead of this week’s LIV Golf event at Trump National Bedminster. “But it is what it is. At the end of the day, I’m happy where I am, and that doesn’t change.

“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.”

“I hope. I hope maybe we can see a different future down the line somewhere, whether that involves me or some of the other guys,” added Stenson. “It’s kind of a lot of speculation, and I’ll just wait and see what happens. If things change in the future, which I hope they will, we’ll see if there’s a time and a place for some of us to be involved going forward.”

World No. 3 Jon Rahm has been adamant about wanting his friend Garcia on the squad, and the fellow countrymen have spoken about the event often over the last year.

“Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about it, him and I. 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,” explained Garcia. “Yeah, it is going to be a shame. I will miss him, too.”

Stenson, on the other hand, hasn’t spoken about the matches too much with other players, noting how everyone understands the situation as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund continue to iron out details regarding the framework agreement to create a new golf entity that hopes to unite the divided professional game. Despite his ousting as captain, the 47-year-old Swede – who boasts a 10-7-2 record in five appearances – still plans to watch the action next month.

“Ryder Cup has been a big part of my career. I’ve got some of my greatest golfing memories from the Ryder Cup, and a lot of my friendships were built from the Ryder Cup. Yeah, I’ll follow. I’m a golf fan, as well, and I’ll follow the scores,” said Stenson. “I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve decided that I got my lounge chair and the popcorn bucket and that I’m going to sit there every hour of it, but of course I’ll check in. I know what the bags are going to look like.”

“If you’ve been part of something and then you’re not part of it, there’s certain aspects you’re going to miss,” he said, “but I’ll follow and obviously support from a distance.”

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Rory McIlroy dishes on state of his relationship with Sergio Garcia

“It’s good that we’re at least talking again.”

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GULLANE, Scotland — Making up is hard.

Whereas Sergio Garcia recently went so far as to say that “I have that friend back,” a reference to his very public rift with Rory McIlroy over his defection to LIV last year, McIlroy wouldn’t quite go that far.

“We’ve talked, which is a first step,” McIlroy said.

The two European Ryder Cup teammates were such good friends that McIlroy was part of Garcia’s wedding party in 2017. But the friction of the feud between PGA Tour and LIV spilled over to their relationship in the past year with Garcia saying McIlroy “lacked maturity” at one point, and McIlroy admitting he had deleted Garcia’s number after he texted him during the 2022 RBC Canadian “basically telling me to shut up about LIV.”

With the framework agreement signed on June 6 between the Tour and PIF meant, in part, to repair the fractured relationship in professional, Garcia detailed how at the LIV London event that he and McIlroy reconnected after McIlroy interacted with Garcia’s wife, Angela, at the U.S. Open last month.

“The U.S. Open was a great event for me,” Garcia said. “I feel like I played well. But more than anything, because I gained a friend back, a friend that I kind of felt like I lost in the last year or so. We talked and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I have that friend back, and that to me means a lot. That’s a very positive thing.”

“Angela and Rory said ‘Hi’ to each other at the U.S. Open,” Garcia said. “And there was a nice text from Rory to her. That kind of gave me the go-ahead to reach out to him.

“I had been thinking about it for a while, but I wasn’t totally sure about it. And when I saw that reaction from him, he kind of gave me the go-ahead to get closer. We had a great chat. It was two friends that wanted to get back to that spot. That’s the most important thing.”

When asked Sunday during his Genesis Scottish Open winner’s news conference how happy he was to get his friendship with Garcia back, McIlroy said, “Yeah, there’s, you know, there’s things that we both think we probably could have done differently, and there’s a lot that’s went into it. You know, it’s good that we’re at least talking again. It’s a first step. I wouldn’t say we are all the way there but we are – it’s a good first step.”

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Sergio Garcia to miss first Open since 1997 after failing to qualify for Royal Liverpool

Since 1998, Garcia has totaled 10 top-10 finishes at the Open.

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Sergio Garcia has been a staple at the Open Championship since 1997. That streak will end this year as the LIV Golf member failed to qualify.

The Spaniard played the par-72 6,973-yard West Lancashire and posted rounds of 67-71, good enough for 6 under and a T-6 finish.

However, there were just five spots up for grabs at West Lancashire and those will go to Matt Wallace (1st, 11 under), Matthew Jordan (T-2, 10 under), Kyle Barker (T-2, 10 under), Alex Fitzpatrick (T-4, 9 under) and Tiger Christensen (T-4, 9 under).

Since 1998, Garcia has made 24 starts at the Open, missing just four cuts and totaling 12 top-20 finishes, 10 of which were top 10s. His career-best finish came at Carnoustie in 2007 where he earned the silver medal.

Garcia played in two of the three major championships so far this season, missing the cut at the Masters and tying for 27th at the U.S. Open.

LIV Golf captains dish on whether they’ll return to PGA Tour if Saudi partnership is passed

“I just can’t envision a better scenario for me as a player than playing out here on LIV,” said Phil Mickelson.

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Details are still few and far between with regard to the proposed deal signed by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create a new global golf entity, even after the framework agreement leaked earlier this week.

One of the biggest questions is how LIV Golf players will be brought back into the fold on Tour. Will there be suspensions? Fines? For how long and how much? On top of that, do players even want to return to the Tour?

Depends who you ask.

“I’ve been pretty happy with my decision to be here at LIV. I’ve enjoyed it. I’m not going to speak for everybody else, but I would say everybody is pretty excited, and everybody is pretty happy with where they’re at right now,” said Brooks Koepka ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Andalucia event in Spain. “It’s tough to look into the future and say — I don’t have any control over what other guys do, but I know I’m happy where I’m at right now, and just take it one day at a time.”

Koepka has long been rumored as a player who has fancied a return to the Tour. Dustin Johnson left without much fuss and would seemingly fit back in with relative ease. That said, Johnson is pretty happy with his smaller schedule and larger paydays.

“I’m excited for the future. I think with this agreement, the only thing that’s going to happen is LIV is going to get even better than what it is now, which it’s already great,” said Johnson. “I’m happy exactly where I am, and I’m definitely not looking to play more golf than I’m playing now, that’s for sure.”

“If everything goes according to plan like we expect it to be, I will not be playing much at all on the PGA Tour because I don’t plan on playing 30 events a year,” echoed Sergio Garcia. “That’s not something that is in my mind at the moment. Obviously as things settle and we know exactly where we all stand, then we can make decisions. But I wouldn’t think so. Not at the moment, I guess.”

Players are smart to not close off a return to the Tour. Who knows what the schedule could look like over the next few years if the deal is passed by the PGA Tour board and allowed by the U.S. government.

“We don’t really feel the need to publicly posture our position,” explained Phil Mickelson, who has never been shy to share his opinion, no matter the subject. “There’s really no need for us to talk about things publicly but to just let it play out.”

But will fans see Lefty back out on Tour, or maybe even on the Champions tour? Don’t hold your breathe.

“Rather than saying yes or no, I know that from a player experience, all of the difficulties and challenges and things that take a lot of excessive energy and output throughout the week have been fixed at LIV,” said Mickelson. “So the player experience here is incredible.”

“I just can’t envision a better scenario for me as a player than playing out here on LIV.”

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Sergio Garcia explains how he and Rory McIlroy rekindled their fractured friendship

“We talked and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I have that friend back, and that to me means a lot.”

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Sergio Garcia had a blast at the 2023 U.S. Open.

He earned his spot the difficult way via final qualifying, then finished T-27 at Los Angeles Country Club. The Spaniard also got his buddy back.

Ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Andalucia event at Valderrama in Spain, Garcia told reporters how he and Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy have since rekindled their longtime friendship that was fractured after Garcia joined the upstart Saudi-backed circuit.

McIlroy walked past Garcia’s wife, Angela, and the two exchanged a hello two weeks ago in L.A. The Northern Irishman followed up the pleasantry with a text, which opened the door for Garcia to approach McIlroy.

“I think that at the end of the day, the important thing is that we got together, we talked, we had a great conversation with two friends that wanted to get back to that spot,” García said on Wednesday in Spain. “And that’s the most important thing.”

Garcia and McIlroy attended each other’s weddings and have been teammates on five separate occasions for the Ryder Cup, where they boast a 2-0-2 record when paired together. McIlroy even said Garcia was one of his idols.

At the 2022 U.S. Open, McIlroy previously told the story of how Garcia texted him that Friday, “basically telling me to shut up about LIV, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

“I was pretty offended and sent him back a couple of daggers and that was it,” McIlroy added.

Back in February, Garcia said McIlroy lacked maturity with his stance on players who left for LIV. But now, it appears all is well between the two.

“It was a great event for me,” García said of the U.S. Open. “Not only because of that. I feel like I played well. But more than anything, because I gained a friend back, a friend that I kind of felt like I lost in the last year or so. We talked and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I have that friend back, and that to me means a lot. That’s a very positive thing.”

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LIV Golf’s Lee Westwood to miss first Open Championship in nearly 30 years; notables Sergio Garcia, Michael Block enter final qualifying

Just 16 spots are left to fill the field for the final men’s major of the year next month in Royal Liverpool.

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After 117 players advanced from regional qualifying for the 2023 Open Championship, just 16 spots are left to fill the field for the final men’s major of the year next month in Royal Liverpool, July 20-23.

One LIV Golf player will look to earn his spot the hard way, just as he did for the U.S. Open, while another will end a nearly three-decade streak of competing in his national open.

Sergio Garcia has entered final qualifying, while Lee Westwood will miss his first British Open in 28 years. Westwood was also recently denied entrance to the Senior Open due to unpaid DP World Tour fines related to his move to the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit. Ian Poulter has also elected not to enter final qualifying. The Telegraph was first to report.

Garcia will play a 36-hole qualifier on Tuesday, July 4, between a pair of LIV Golf League events in Spain (June 30-July 2) and London (July 7-9). In fact, of the 52 players to tee it up this season for LIV, 21 have entered final qualifying across the four sites:

Dundonald Links

  • Jason Kokrak
  • Sebastian Munoz
  • Andy Ogletree
  • Carlos Ortiz
  • Peter Uihlein

Royal Cinque Ports

  • Dean Burmester
  • Branden Grace
  • Wade Ormsby
  • David Puig
  • Charl Schwartzel
  • Brendan Steele
  • Kieran Vincent

Royal Porthcawl

  • Laurie Canter
  • Matt Jones
  • Anirban Lahiri
  • Marc Leishman
  • Cameron Tringale

West Lancashire

  • Sergio Garcia
  • Graeme McDowell
  • Mito Pereira
  • Scott Vincent

Other notable names to enter final qualifying include Alex Fitzpatrick, Aaron Wise and Matt Wallace at West Lancashire, Thomas Detry at Royal Cinque Ports and Matt Kuchar, Michael Block and Mackenzie Hughes at Dundonald Links.

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How each LIV Golf player fared at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club

The trend of LIV golfers contending at majors continued at the 2023 U.S. Open.

LOS ANGELES — The trend of LIV Golf players contending at majors continued this week at the 2023 U.S. Open.

Fifteen players who took their talents to the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund were in the 156-player field, and 10 made the weekend cut. Cam Smith and Dustin Johnson were both within striking distance of the leaders on the weekend, and both earned top-10 finishes.

Earlier this year three LIV players finished in the top six at the Masters, and of the 16 players who competed at the 2023 PGA Championship, 11 made the weekend cut.

Check out how each of the LIV Golf League players fared this week at the 2023 U.S. Open.

MORE: U.S. Open leaderboard

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