Sergio wins again, eyes Ryder Cup
Second LIV Golf victory shows his skills and fire; Tiger takes another pass on Players
Sergio Garcia’s second win on LIV Golf boosts his Ryder Cup hopes (Chris Trotman/LIV Golf)
The bridges he seemingly torched on his way to the LIV Golf League have seemingly been repaired enough for Sergio Garcia to be lobbying captain Luke Donald for a spot on the European Ryder Cup team.
Garcia, 45, didn’t exactly endear himself to the masses on his way out of the PGA Tour and DP World Tours back in 2022. His game suffered along with him and he was barely a factor on the controversial circuit.
But time — and the possibility of a deal with the Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV Golf — has soothed some of the hurt. So has Garcia’s overtures to Donald, a long-time friend who knows that having the all-time Ryder Cup points leader on his side at Bethpage Black is not the worst idea in the world, even if it comes with some internal angst.
Garcia helped his cause by winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong event on Sunday, shooting a final-round 63 to prevail by three over Dean Burmester. It is Garcia’s second win on LIV Golf including a victory last year in his native Spain. With five other top-10 finishes in 2024, Garcia finished third in the LIV individual standings behind considerably younger Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.
“I think he’s watching,” Garcia said of Donald after his victory at Hong Kong Golf Club. "We’ve been in touch, so I know that he’s keeping an eye. The only thing I can do is keep playing good golf, and I just want to help the European team like I’ve tried to do every single time I’ve been a member of that team, and hopefully he will think I’m good enough for it.”
On the plus side of Garcia’s ledger is his continued efforts to qualify for majors. He attempted to qualify for the last two Open championships, failing to make it to the British at Royal Troon but advancing to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where he finished tied for 12th, narrowly missing a top-10 exemption into this year’s tournament at Oakmont.
Garcia will give his plight a huge boost by performing better in the majors. Since winning the Masters in 2017, he’s missed the cut at Augusta five times, including the last two years.
He’s received an invite to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow and can get in both Opens if he remains LIV’s season points leader, which puts a level of importance on LIV play that had been missing in the 54-hole player league. Making a mark on the biggest stages will help him quell any controversy about contending for a captain’s pick.
Garcia last competed in the Ryder Cup in a losing European effort in 2021 at Whistling Straits, where he partnered well with countryman Rahm and managed to perform well enough to move to the top of the points table with 28½ points over 10 Ryder Cups.
He was ineligible to compete in the 2023 Euro victory in Rome, and there wasn’t much reason to have him there. His play at the time certainly didn’t warrant inclusion, and the volatile manner in which he left both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join LIV Golf seemed too much to overcome.
But Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are relative locks be on the European team at Bethpage while Bryson DeChambeau appears to be a lock for the United States. Brooks Koepka undoubtedly is getting a strong look from U.S. captain Keegan Bradley.
Garcia still possesses plenty of skills. His love for the Ryder Cup is unquestioned, as is his record. He’s gone 25-13-7 across his 10 Ryder Cups, missing only one during an 11-match stretch from 1999 (when he was 19 at Brookline) through 2021.
There’s no doubt that playing Garcia in match play is not easy, although he is likely to be on the tough end of a considerable amount of unwelcome bad blood from U.S. fans at Bethpage — something that seems inevitable to go over the top. He was mercilessly heckled while dealing with re-gripping issues by Bethpage crowds in the 2002 U.S. Open, where he finished second to Tiger Woods.
Garcia will play this week’s LIV event in Singapore plus another in Miami prior to the Masters, which will be his 100th major championship. That milestone is a significant testament to his longevity and career consistency.
It would also be a good place for him to show more form at which point the Ryder Cup talk would intensify even more.
“It’s still early,” Garcia said. “We still have a month to go. We still have two big tournaments coming up in Singapore and Miami, so we’ve got to focus on that, and when we get to Augusta, then we’ll focus on that.
“Obviously it’s going to be a very special week for me because it’s my 100th major, so I'm super proud of that. It’s not a number that a lot of people get to achieve. I just want to have a lot of fun there no matter what happens, and that’s my goal.”
Simulation golf is all Tiger Woods has played in 2025 (Courtesy TGL)
Tiger lets final Players exemption expire
Barring something unforeseen — a remarkable major victory, FedEx Cup points haul or change in tournament qualification rules — Tiger Woods has likely played his final Players Championship.
It came as little surprise when he wasn’t in the field announced on Friday after earlier comments suggested he was still grieving the death of his mother, Kultida, and had not really resumed a rigorous practice schedule to prepare for a 72-hole event.