LIV Golf’s Sergio Garcia is set to rejoin the DP World Tour for the 2025 season as the veteran Spaniard seeks to play at next year’s Ryder Cup.
Garcia, who is the event’s record points scorer, wants to match Lee Westwood and Nick Faldo’s European record of 11 appearances in the competition.
However, in order for that to happen, the 44-year-old has had to settle the outstanding fines – reported to be more than £1m – imposed on him by the DP World Tour for his previous defection to play LIV events, and he will also have to serve a suspension.
Garcia resigned his membership of the European circuit in May last year after an arbitration panel found in favour of the DP World Tour and confirmed its right to fine and ban players who competed in LIV Golf events without permission.
A spokesman for the DP World Tour confirmed that the former Masters winner Garcia submitted an application to return to the membership before the November 17 deadline.
“He has paid his fines but will have to serve his suspensions before he can play on the DP World Tour,” the spokesman added.
European players wishing to be selected for the Ryder Cup must be members of the DP World Tour tour and play in a specific minimum number of DP World Tour events.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald recently said he had been speaking to Garcia about the Spanish star returning to the tour and becoming eligible to play on the team.
Garcia joined LIV Golf in 2022 and captains the Fireballs GC team. He won his first individual title at LIV Golf Andalucía at Valderrama this summer and finished third in this season’s LIV Golf League Individual Championship.
HATTON PICKED FOR RYDER CUP ‘WARM-UP’ EVENT
In further evidence of the thawing in relations between the two tours, LIV Golf’s Tyrrell Hatton has been named in the GB & Ireland squad for the Team Cup, the European Ryder Cup team’s warm-up event which takes place in Abu Dhabi in January and features 10-a-side team matchplay event between GB& I players and Continental Europe.
Francesco Molinari and Justin Rose will be the captains for the latest staging of the competition, which is designed is assess players and look at potential partnerships.
Hatton has played in the last three Ryder Cups, but put his future appearance in doubt after his switch to the LIV circuit in January. However he appealed the sanctions imposed on him by the DP World Tour which allowed him to participate in end of season tournaments and retain membership.
He ended up finishing fourth in the Race to Dubai points list, despite having just played in six DP World Tour events and four Majors. He won the Dunhill Links Championship in October, finished second in Abu Dhabi and sixth in last week’s DP World Tour Championship.
Garcia has not been selected for the Team Cup as the suspension he will have to serve will not have been completed in time. He is expected to be able to start playing in DP World Tour events from February, just as LIV Golf’s 2025 season begins.
The line-ups for the Team Cup are picture below. Both teams have one player still be announced.
