Jon Rahm gives the reason he thinks Sergio Garcia was not picked for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black

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Sergio Garcia was arguably the biggest omission from Luke Donald’s European team for the 2025 Ryder Cup.

Garcia also missed out in Rome two years ago, but he played well on LIV Golf this season, and his Ryder Cup record is second to none.

Fellow LIV golfer and compatriot Jon Rahm was one of Donald’s six captain’s picks chosen ahead of the 45-year-old.

Before this week’s BMW PGA Championship, Rahm explained the most probable reason why Garcia was overlooked this time.

• READ MORE: Three European Ryder Cup players with a point to prove at the BMW PGA Championship

Jon Rahm reacts to Sergio Garcia missing out on European Ryder Cup place

Garcia started the 2025 LIV Golf season so strongly, with two top-10 finishes and a victory in Hong Kong in his first five tournaments.

If Donald had selected his European Ryder Cup team in the spring, Garcia would have been almost impossible to leave out.

Unfortunately, the Spaniard’s form tailed off towards the end of the season as he did not contend at any of the last nine events.

Rahm believes that Garcia let himself down with his underwhelming recent performances, and that’s what cost him a ticket to Bethpage Black.

“My heart is always going to say yes, right,” Rahm explained. “He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a Spanish player, and the moments we shared in whistling and Paris, personally, I’m always going to want him around.

“He did play good early on in the year, very, very good. He was playing incredible golf, maybe in some parts of the world that you weren’t watching. It seemed like from April on, he didn’t keep that level. So I don’t think he helped himself.

“I understand that while we are not earning points or the rankings, we need to make a really strong case to be picked.

“Had he kept that level, he might have been on the team, but he didn’t play as good as he could have. Subjectively, I’m always going to root for him.”

Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia saved Europe from more embarrassment at 2021 Ryder Cup

Had Garcia made the European team, Rahm would surely have looked forward to playing alongside him at Bethpage Black.

The Spanish duo teamed up three times at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and went undefeated against tough opposition.

They beat three combinations of Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, and Daniel Berger in both foursomes and fourballs.

Europe still lost 19-9 despite Rahm and Garcia’s contributions, so it is easy to imagine how one-sided the scoreline would have been without them.