Sergio Garcia has forked out over $1 million in fines to the DP World Tour, paving his way back to the Ryder Cup next year. This is a move that fellow LIV Golf star Jon Rahm has yet to make.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Garcia had reapplied for membership to the DP World Tour for 2025. Garcia, along with other LIV players like Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, had resigned their Tour cards in 2023 due to accumulating fines and suspensions from every event they participated in on the breakaway circuit.
This led to them missing last year's Ryder Cup in Rome. However, having settled his fines with the Wentworth-based circuit, Garcia is now eyeing a comeback.
He hopes to secure a spot in Luke Donald's Ryder Cup team in New York next year, a goal shared by Rahm. Unlike Garcia, Rahm never resigned his membership from the DP World Tour but needed to play four events by year-end to retain his membership, a requirement he fulfilled in Spain last month.
However, unlike Garcia, he must pay his sanctions to the Tour, something he is unwilling to do.
"I'm not a big fan of the fines. I think I've been outspoken about that," declared the 2024 LIV Golf individual champion, underscoring his defiant stance ahead of an event in September in Chicago.
"I don't intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen."
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Under Tour protocols, Rahm must handle any dues to secure his slot at Bethpage Black, yet intriguingly, he's navigated a loophole. Riding high off his DP World Tour re-entry in recent times, the ex-world frontrunner affirmed his challenge against the penalties levied on him, securing his ongoing participation rights.
Reflecting on Garcia's scenario, if he's to rejoin the European squad it would indeed mark a notable return, given his legendary status as the Ryder Cup's highest-scoring warrior. Whispers of his resurgence gained steam last September when skipper Donald revealed a telling phone conversation with the LIV Golf sensation.
"He thinks he can play," disclosed Donald. "He wants to play. I don't think he has talked to me about being an assistant captain, but again, he would have to re-join the tour for him to be eligible. He's certainly very interested in doing that. He understands everything that's involved and again, the decision has to go to him whether he's prepared to do all that. But certainly, we've had that discussion."
