After the Open Championship last week, Sergio Garcia—now a member of LIV Golf—said he was planning to resign from the DP World Tour after leaving the PGA Tour last month because he was not “not feeling loved” by the former European Tour.
But the 2017 Masters champion said now that he’s changing his mind and will hold off on leaving the DP World Tour at the moment, so he does not lose his eligibility for the Ryder Cup in 2023.
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Garcia said that it was fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm’s impassioned speech at St. Andrews last week that caused him to reconsider. Rahm said that it would be a shame for the man with the most points in Ryder Cup history to be disqualified from participating in the event due to the golf tour that he played for.
Sergio Garcia was gonna quit DP World Tour, but Jon Rahm and others helped change his mind. He has hope and a love for the Ryder Cup that will never die. https://t.co/ftpxhxNHYB
— Michael Collins (@ESPNCaddie) July 25, 2022
Garcia said:
“Thanks to the things that Jon Rahm said, and I had a couple of good conversations with guys on the [DP World] Tour, I’m going to hold off on [resigning]… I want to at least see what’s happening when the Ryder Cup qualification starts. See what kind of rules and eligibilities they have in there. If I agree with what they [are], I’ll definitely keep playing whatever I can on the tour and try to qualify for that Ryder Cup team. And if not, then we’ll move on. But it is definitely something that is in my mind.”
It’s still to be determined whether LIV golfers will be eligible for the Ryder Cup. Henrik Stenson was captain of the European team but had the title stripped from him after he joined LIV Golf last week. But it sounds like Garcia is willing to wait things out until there are official rules in place.
Cover Image Via Golf Magazine