Sergio Garcia has no regrets about joining LIV Golf - despite his likely exile from Europe's Ryder Cup team.
Garcia is Europe's all-time leading points scorer and has gained hero status across ten editions of the famous biennial joust against the USA. But the Spaniard has already given up any chance of featuring in Luke Donald's team at the Marco Simone course next year.
The former Masters champion failed to enter enough events in the 2022 season which means he is set to relinquish his DP World Tour card. That ultimately rules Garcia out of Ryder Cup contention as he cannot claim qualifying points or be named as one of Donald's six wildcard picks without tour membership.
Garcia risked his reputation with European fans after joining the contentious Saudi-backed LIV tour. CEO Greg Norman has used the guaranteed millions on offer from Saudi Arabia's financial backers to attract players like Garcia to their invitational rebel series.
The controversial venture backed by a Gulf State with links to human rights issues has caused a fierce civil war to erupt in golf. Ardent backers of the sport's traditional ecosystem have maligned the LIV rebels for their decision to defect from the status quo in pursuit of lucrative prizes without jeopardy.
It's still uncertain if other LIV golfers can qualify for the Ryder Cup, with a UK arbitration court ruling pending in February on whether the rebels can compete on the DP World Tour. Regardless of that outcome, Garcia is at peace with the fact that he will not be in Rome for next September's showdown.
“I can only speak for myself, but I've definitely made the right decision. I feel like I'm where I want to be,” Garcia said. “Obviously I knew some of the things that might happen if I joined here, but at the end of the day, as we're seeing, you can see that some of the guys on the other side don't really want me there."
Tension is palpable across both sides of golf's civil war and ill-feeling could consume the European dressing room should LIV players be allowed to play. World No.1 Rory McIlroy has reiterated that he wants the Ryder Cup to be a LIV-free zone, and Garcia has insisted he would not be comfortable being a divisive figure in the European team.
“I don't want to be a burden to anyone and even less in a Ryder Cup," he added. "I'd rather be away from that as much as it hurts and make sure that Europe has the best chance of winning than me being there and three or four guys that are going to be there are going to be upset or something.
“I think the Ryder Cup is bigger than any of us or me for that matter, even with my record, and I'm happy to be able to be here and enjoying my time with my three partners and trying to build something that is very exciting and that we're extremely proud of.”
