18 September 2023 , 13:45
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Sergio Garcia made a last-ditch effort to make the European Ryder Cup team, after offering to pay the DP World Tour £700,000 in outstanding fines.
Garcia gave up the chance to play in this year's Ryder Cup after resigning his DP World Tour membership in May. The Spaniard's decision to quit the Tour and the Team Europe setup came after he was sanctioned by the Wentworth-based circuit for joining LIV Golf.
The 2017 Masters champion has missed just one Ryder Cup since his debut in 1999, and in a bid to keep up this impressive run he attempted a late u-turn to make Luke Donald's team, according to The Telegraph.
Garcia's fallout with the DP World Tour had been a public one, after failing to pay a £100,000 sanction on time. Keen to make a Ryder Cup return though, the Spaniard and his team are said to have approached European bosses to settle both his differences and his outstanding fines.
Garcia may well have been given some hope of a return at the 11th hour, following the peace talks between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour with LIV Golf and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
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Players on the breakaway circuit are set to be able to reapply for membership across both tours following the conclusion of the ongoing negotiations. Garcia's attempt though appeared to come too soon, with application for DP World Tour membership not open until next year.
Sergio Garcia's Ryder Cup efforts were in vain (PA)Outlining this, a statement from a DP World Tour spokesperson obtained by Mirror Sport read: " This entire discussion is a moot point. Even if Sergio Garcia was to pay everything he owes to the PGA European Tour, the simple fact is that he does not fulfil one of the essential, long-standing and widely known eligibility criteria for Team Europe: ie: he is not a member of the DP World Tour.
"He resigned his membership, of his own volition, in May, and is therefore not eligible to rejoin until next season.” It was also confirmed that whilst Garcia's fellow LIV stars - and European stalwarts - Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter had paid off their £100,000 sanctions, the Spaniard had not.
On the back of his resignation in May, Garcia revealed he had spoken to captain Luke Donald on the phone about his Ryder Cup chances, where he was told there was 'no chance' of making the team. Garcia is the Ryder Cup's all-time leading points scorer, and has represented his continent on 10 occasions in the matchplay event.