Europe are likely to break new ground at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, with Luke Donald not including a single LIV Golf star in his team for Rome last year.
Europe were able to regain the Ryder Cup without needing any of their legendary figures who moved to LIV Golf in 2022. Henrik Stenson was stripped of the captaincy, while Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood also walked away from the DP World Tour.
But of course, much has changed since Luke Donald lifted the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone. Speculation surrounding Jon Rahm‘s future was starting up even during the event, and he did indeed confirm that he was moving to LIV shortly after. Tyrrell Hatton meanwhile, would follow him in the new year.
Rahm and Hatton will almost certainly be on the team at Bethpage next year, one way or another. The Spaniard is a talisman for Europe, while Hatton reminded everyone of his quality by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the weekend. They have also been paired together in the past.
European LIV Golf star backed to be a ‘perfect’ captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup
But perhaps they may not be the only LIV representation on the European side. Donald confirmed that Sergio Garcia is interested in regaining his DP World Tour membership in the hope of pushing to make the team in New York.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner suggested that Garcia could be the ideal player to include in the side which travels across the Atlantic.
“It’s certainly a different dynamic for Luke Donald from what he faced in Rome where some of the old guard really wasn’t going to be factoring into who was going to be amongst that 12: Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter. Those guys were not going to be in Rome as players,” he said.
“How Luke Donald navigates these potential landmines, how he reacclimates these players back in a team room, I think of a Sergio Garcia, who made some pretty disparaging remarks to some fellow European Tour members on his way out the door. He has resigned his European Tour membership.
“Luke Donald said that he’s had conversations over the past couple of weeks with Sergio about rejoining the DP World Tour and doing everything he needs to do to be eligible next year. You would think, based on the way Sergio Garcia has played this year, even though I think he’s 44 years old, he had a great year on LIV, third on the LIV points standings, won an event, runner-up in three other events, you know his history in this event, you know he can handle the cauldron that is the Ryder Cup, I think he would be a perfect back-end captain’s pick, numbers 10-12.”
What cannot be forgotten about Sergio Garcia’s previous Ryder Cup appearance
As Lavner suggests, Garcia had a really impressive year on LIV. He beat Hatton to third place in the individual standings over the course of the season, with victory coming at Valderrama.
It also cannot be forgotten that the 44-year-old was actually one of the only players to do well at Whistling Straits in 2021. Just two European players, Garcia and Rahm, picked up more than 1.5 points in Wisconsin – and Garcia picked up three of those.
He is the all-time leading points scorer in the Ryder Cup, and he will surely relish the chance to return to the stage having probably thought that his days in the competition were behind him.
And while there is so much which needs to happen before this becomes a possibility, perhaps Garcia coming back into the fold will leave Europe with an obvious choice for the 2027 captaincy.
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