Sergio Garcia has pulled out of the upcoming Irish Open at the K Club, citing emotional fatigue after being overlooked by European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald
An emotional Sergio Garcia reacted to his Ryder Cup snub by ruling himself out of a potential £750,000 payday. Due to playing on the LIV Golf tour, where ranking points cannot be gained, Garcia was left hoping to be one of Luke Donald’s six captain’s picks.
However, Donald overlooked Europe’s all-time leading scorer as he selected Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick and Sepp Straka to join automatic qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Bob MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Rasmus Hoijgaard. The latter’s inclusion, at the expense of his twin brother Nicolai, is the only change to the side that regained the trophy in Rome two years ago.
Garcia has had a respectable season, finishing ninth in LIV’s individual player standings and winning a title in Hong Kong in March. But it was not enough to force his way into the European captain’s plans for the match at New York’s Bethpage Black at the end of this month.
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On his call with Donald, who delivered the bad news, the 45-year-old told GolfMagic: « The call with Luke was fine but not the call I wanted, obviously.
« Now, the only thing I can do is support the team from home. It’s as simple as that. I’ll be watching and cheering on the European team. »
The decision has hit Garcia, who has scored a record 28.5 points across 10 Ryder Cups, hard. As a result, he has decided to pull out of the Irish Open at the K Club, which begins on Thursday. The tournament boasts a purse of £4.5million, with a top prize of £750,000.
« I felt like I was so looking forward to being a part of that team. Mentally, it was kind of tough, » said Garcia. « I didn’t want to go there [to the Irish Open] and not be fully engaged in the tournament and stuff.
« So I just decided to take a little bit of time off and spend it with the family and do a couple of things, some things outside of golf and just kind of reboot a little bit, recharge the batteries. »
A star-studded field at the K Club will include McIlroy, Lowry and Hatton, along with American stars Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
Donald selected another Spanish LIV player, Jon Rahm. He got the nod ahead of England’s Matt Wallace, who finished 12th in the European rankings. Donald said: « Jon really sets the standard for us. He is usually the first person up and the last person in the team room. He understands the history of the Ryder Cup. He takes that history to heart and plays like that. »
Rahm’s place was not really in doubt but the Spaniard said: « It’s a different feeling. I didn’t think I’d be as emotional as I am right now. It’s going to be special. »
The news comes after Team USA captain Keegan Bradley elected not to pick himself as a player. It would have seen him become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.
However, he ultimately opted against the idea and chose Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns as his six players to join automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.
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