Report: Sergio Garcia offered to pay fines to regain Ryder Cup eligibility

Did Sergio Garcia make a last-ditch attempt to play in this year’s Ryder Cup?

That’s what one DP World Tour official told The Telegraph’s James Corrigan, who recently reported that Garcia, through his representatives, had offered to pay an estimated 700,000 pounds in fines should he be allowed to compete for European captain Luke Donald’s 12-man squad in Rome. But the DPWT declined Garcia’s offer, saying there was no path back in time for the matches at Marco Simone, which are set to begin Sept. 29.

“They also said they’d play in whatever events we wanted, apart from those that clashed with the remaining LIV tournaments,” the Telegraph’s source added. “But it was explained that, despite the ongoing peace talks, as he had resigned his membership, he is not eligible to join until next year. It was all a bit bizarre as that was made clear all along.”

The source said that Garcia, to date, is the only former DPWT member who has since defected to LIV Golf to have not paid his original 100,000-pound fine. Garcia resigned his DPWT membership in May.

It’s worth noting that neither Garcia nor the DPWT responded to the Telegraph’s request for comment.

Garcia, 43, has played in 10 career Ryder Cups (and on six winning teams) while compiling a 25-13-7 individual record, his 28.5 points earned being a Ryder Cup record. He earned three points at the 2021 Ryder Cup, second on Team Europe only to Jon Rahm, who has consistently over the last year or so been a supporter of Garcia being on this year’s squad, even saying last week, “I think it would be really stupid for anybody not to lean on Sergio Garcia’s experience in the Ryder Cup.”