Sergio Garcia was supposed to be at the Irish Open this week. Instead, the Spaniard withdrew from the DP World Tour event at The K Club after Luke Donald didn’t select him as one of his six captain’s picks for the 2025 Ryder Cup.
“I felt like I was so looking forward to being a part of that team, and so I felt like mentally, you know, mentally it was kind of tough,” Garcia told GolfMagic. “I didn’t want to go there 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, you know, some things outside of golf and just kind of reboot a little bit, recharge the batteries.”
At the Open Championship, Garcia said he’d had “chats” with Donald about potentially making his Ryder Cup return this September at Bethpage Black. Europe’s all-time points leader believed that his experience would benefit a team trying to win an away Ryder Cup in a hostile environment. But in the end, Garcia’s play — his best major finish this season was a T34 at the Open — didn’t warrant a pick, and Donald opted to go with Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Sepp Straka, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm and Ludvig Åberg as his selections.
Rory McIlroy, who automatically qualified for the team, didn’t share Garcia’s surprise that he wasn’t selected for the team.
“No, I don’t [understand],” McIlroy said Wednesday at the Irish Open when asked if he understood why Garcia withdrew. “I mean, it would have been great for the tournament if Sergio played, but obviously, he was trying to keep himself sharp, I guess, if he did get a pick. He has the right to enter and pull out of whatever tournaments he wants to. As I said, Luke, has assembled a very strong 12 players, and I think the right 12 players, and I’m sure he’s disappointed.
“But you know, at the same time, I’m sure he wishes Europe well and wants us to win.”
McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Rasmus Hojgaard will join Donald’s six captain’s picks on Long Island later this month.
The 2025 Masters champion went into a lull after completing the career Grand Slam in April. McIlroy admitted he struggled to find motivation after summitting his “Mount Everest.” He was re-energized in front of his home crowd at the Open Championship, but then fizzled in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
McIlroy has previously stated that one of the final things he hopes to achieve in his career is winning an away Ryder Cup. Following Europe’s victory in Rome in 2023, McIlroy promised a win at Bethpage Black.
He arrives at the Irish Open with his eyes fixed on a new goal — one that would be the perfect topper to a season that saw McIlroy finally achieve his dream.
“Again, the one thing for me — obviously I’d love to win this week,” McIlroy said. “I’d love to win next week at Wentworth. But the one thing for me this year to reassess my goals, an away Ryder Cup, after everything that’s happened this year, would be — I would look back on 2025, and there’s no way that I would — if I did have a better year in the game, I’d love to see it. But if we were to win an away Ryder Cup with everything else that I’ve been through this year, 2025 would be the best year of my career.”
The Ryder Cup starts Sept. 26 at Bethpage Black.
