Ryder Cup 2023: Sergio Garcia's omission goes beyond LIV Golf
There is plenty of events to look forward to this weekend, but the golf world is once again fixated on Sergio Garcia and the fact he won't be playing on the Ryder Cup team this year.
The 43-year-old Ryder Cup specialist was apparently told by Team Europe captain Luke Donald there is "no chance" he will be competing in the big match-play event in September. The announcement has drawn mixed reviews from the Europeans, from fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm saying Garcia will be missed to Rory McIlroy saying no LIV defectors should play for Team Europe.
But what needs to be recognized first and foremost is that Gargia's omission from the Ryder Cup this year goes beyond his defecting to LIV Golf. It has to do with how he has conducted himself in general.
It should be reminded, for starters, that Garcia isn't the only former DP World Tour member to have Ryder Cup privileges revoked in the wake of the whole LIV Golf debacle. Remember, Henrik Stenson was stripped of the captaincy in favor of Donald when he joined LIV Golf last year -- and is one of a handful of European golfers, including Garcia, who recently left the DP World Tour altogether after being fined for playing LIV events.
The difference between Garcia and his fellow European LIV defectors is that he continues to go solo and accepts no responsibility. He refuses to pay the fine he's due to the DP World Tour even though he knowingly broke the rules, but he also doesn't appear to have fully bought into LIV Golf's "us against the world" mentality either. If nothing else, he only focuses on his own woes.
Speaking of woes, Garcia hasn't played spectacularly since joining LIV. And as The Guardian pointed out this week, he has also missed the cut in three of the last five majors he has played in since his last Ryder Cup appearance. Even with his sparkling Ryder Cup resume, Garcia looks like he would be more of a hindrance than a help on Team Europe.
"It is tricky to see how he would have been selected for the Ryder Cup other than on sentimental grounds," Guardian writer Ewan Murray said. "That is before García’s audible dissatisfaction with all things DP World Tour and that the feeling is mutual (there are 100,000 reasons for that) is considered."
Murray suggests that Garcia look ahead instead of playing the victim for things that have already happened and that he should do it for the good of his reputation. It's hard not to agree, especially when you see what his current attitude has done to his chances of playing in the 2023 Ryder Cup.
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