Sergio Garcia’s 2 trump cards could put him on Ryder Cup team

Sergio Garcia’s return to the Open Championship after a two-year absence came with a T34 finish, a final round where he snapped his driver on the 2nd hole, a light-hearted jab at eventual winner Scottie Scheffler’s take on fulfillment and a lot of questions about his plans for September.

Garcia, who holds the Ryder Cup record for most points at 28.5, has been open about his recent talks with European captain Luke Donald and his desire to make his 11th Ryder Cup appearance. That decision, of course, is up to Donald, though.

“We’ve been talking. It’s no secret that we have been talking,” Garcia said on Sunday after he finished his round at Royal Portrush. “It would mean the world to me to be there. Obviously, if I can help the team, that’s my main goal. I’ve always said it.”

With the men’s major season concluded, it looks like at least 11 of the 12 members of Team Europe’s 2023-winning team will be at Bethpage Black this fall. Rory McIlroy has already qualified on points. Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka are currently in line to make the team on points. Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick also appear in line to return via captain’s picks. That leaves two spots. One will likely go to Jon Rahm, and the other is up in the air between Rasmus Hojgaard, Nicolai Hojgaard, Thomas Detry and Garcia.

Garcia won early this season at LIV Hong Kong but missed the cut at the Masters and finished T67 at the PGA Championship. After that finish at Quail Hollow, Garcia said he wouldn’t think of accepting a captain’s pick from Donald, given the way he was currently playing. But the 2017 Masters champion has unsurprisingly backtracked on that with his recent uptick in play.

“The last two years has been good,” Garcia said of his game. “Obviously a little bit of a dip after the Masters. I played nicely in Dallas, I just had a couple of bad finishes in a couple of rounds. Then obviously played very nicely in Valderrama, didn’t really putt well at all and still finished top 10.”

As Donald prepares to fill out his team in six weeks, Garcia has two things working in his favor as he angles for a captain’s pick.

The first: experience. With 10 Ryder Cups and 28.5 points under his belt, including collecting three points during Team Europe’s blowout loss at Whistling Straits in 2021, Garcia would bring a critical veteran presence for a European team that will face a rowdy New York crowd at Bethpage Black.

“I think I can bring things to the team — to any team that would probably need it,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, when you’re out there on the course, it’s nice to have one of those experienced guys to put their arm around you and make you feel like don’t worry, I’ve got you, when people are shouting at you and screaming and wishing you all the bad things that you can think of. Yeah, it’s easy to kind of go get in a little shell and kind of get smaller. I was very fortunate to play with Jesper [Parnevik] in ’99 [at Brookline] as a rookie. He made it so easy for me. Obviously, we played great, but he made it so much fun and so easy for me to really enjoy the moment and enjoy the Ryder Cup, even being away as tough as the crowds might be.”

Garcia touched on his good history at Bethpage Black. He finished fourth in the 2002 U.S. Open, tied for 10th in 2009 and missed the cut at the 2019 PGA Championship. That Bethpage experience could be another feather in his cap.

“It was a long time ago because I haven’t played in a long time,” Garcia said. “We’ll see. It depends. That’s obviously something nice to have. I’ve done really well there pretty much every time I’ve played there, I think.”

Experience in the Ryder Cup and at Bethpage Black would no doubt benefit a European squad looking to win on U.S. soil for the first time since the 2012 “Miracle at Medinah.” Garcia’s resume speaks for itself, but his likely Ryder Cup partner and their stellar first showing as a duo could be Garcia’s trump card with Donald. In 2021, Garcia and Rahm went 3-0-0 as a tandem and were the only bright spot for a European team that was washed away in Wisconsin.

“You would think so,” Garcia said when asked if his partnership with Rahm would be beneficial at Bethpage. “Jon and I are good friends. We played well when we played at Whistling Straits. I was watching a few YouTube videos this week on our matches there. We had a great time. We gel nicely together. Obviously, it’s easy to play with Jon because he’s so good. It’s still a couple months to go.”

Rahm, who finished T34 alongside Garcia at Portrush, likes the sound of a Ryder Cup reunion in New York with his friend and countryman.

“It would be very special,” Rahm said. “I’d like to be on the team first myself and then think about somebody else. Yeah, it would be quite unique. He would be a fantastic guy obviously with his Ryder Cup experience, how he played in the Northeast and actually having played at Bethpage, having played well at Bethpage in the past, so somebody that’s familiar with the golf course. He’s definitely somebody that should be in Luke’s radar.”

Of course, hanging over all of this is Garcia, Rahm and Hatton’s move to LIV Golf. While Team USA included Brooks Koepka on the 2023 team, Team Europe has yet to include a member of LIV. Rahm and Hatton were both members of the PGA Tour in 2023. Hatton should qualify on points, and it feels like a certainty that Donald will use a captain’s pick on Rahm.

Despite professional golf’s ongoing cold war, Garcia said he is confident that his play, not the politics of the sport, will be the only thing that matters.

“That’s what he’s told me,” Garcia said of Donald. “It’s just about how my game is and what I can bring, what I can add to the team, as simple as that.”

When it was suggested that the Open was Garcia’s final chance to leave an impression on Donald, the Spaniard rejected the premise.

“I don’t think it’s the last chance, to be totally honest,” Garcia said. “I think there’s still a good amount of weeks left. At the end of the day, I’ve just got to do what I can. I’ve got to try to play the best I can, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Garcia will require a captain’s pick to make his 11th Ryder Cup team. He is all out of opportunities to earn the points needed to qualify automatically. But his stellar play with Rahm and his Ryder Cup experience could be what nudges him over the line past others clamoring for the final spot and onto Team Europe. If that has been communicated to him, Garcia wasn’t letting on Sunday as he departed Northern Ireland.

“I wish I could have a crystal ball and see the future, but unfortunately, I cannot.”

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