After failing to get selected for the 2025 Ryder Cup, Sergio Garcia pulled out of this week’s Irish Open, which is being held at The K Club in County Kildare, Ireland.
European captain Luke Donald made his six picks on Monday, welcoming back Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick. All six have previous Ryder Cup experience and were part of the team in 2023. In fact, the only new player on the team is Rasmus Hojgaard, who replaces his twin brother Nicolai from the side that captured the trophy in Rome.
Garcia, who has been on 10 Ryder Cup teams and is the all-time points leader in the tournament’s history, admitted he wasn’t in the right headspace to play this week after being passed over.
“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.”
Garcia had a strong season with LIV Golf, and no player has accumulated more Ryder Cup points than the Spaniard, who boasts a 25-13-7 record with 28.5 points to boot in 10 appearances. Garcia played in three majors this season, missing the cut at the Masters, placing T-67 at the PGA Championship and adding T-34 finish at the Open Championship.
But Donald stuck with nearly the same lineup he had in winning the Cup in 2023.
“The call with Luke was fine, but not the call I wanted, obviously, but the conversation was fine,” Garcia said about his call from Donald. “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.”
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