Jon Rahm Laments a European Ryder Cup Team Without Sergio Garcia, 'It's a Little Sad to Me'
DUBLIN, Ohio — Masters champion Jon Rahm will have to find another partner to play with at the 2023 Ryder Cup outside Rome, as his successful partnership with Sergio Garcia will no longer be available.
The duo of Garcia and Rahm were a shining light of the Iberian Peninsula at the 2021 Ryder Cup in Wisconsin when the Spanish duo went 3-0-0 in fourballs and foursomes for a European team that struggled to find points and eventually lost in a U.S. landslide, 19-9.
On Tuesday at the Memorial Tournament, the 28-year-old from the Basque Country was asked about the report that Garcia contacted European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald about his chance of being included on the European team and being told he was not welcome.
“I'm going to miss him,” Rahm said of Garcia. “I'm going to mention history again one more time. A Spanish duo in the Ryder Cup I think to me is embedded into the roots of the Ryder Cup.”
Rahm immediately pointed to the Spanish partnership of Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal when discussing the history of the Ryder Cup.
Coincidentally, the Ballesteros and Olazabal partnership started at the 1987 Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village in the Friday morning foursomes, beating the U.S duo of Payne Stewart and Larry Nelson 2 & 1.
The Spanish duo went 3-1-0 at that Ryder Cup and would go on to win 11 of their 15 Ryder Cup matches.
“It's a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event,” Rahm said. “Again, it's the best Europeans against the best American, period. And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn't matter. It's whoever is best suited to represent the European side.”
Garcia is one of the most successful Ryder Cup players ever with a 25-13-7 record, which seemingly would be a potential benefit for a European team that will be younger and more inexperienced than usual.
“Obviously I had to make some decisions when it comes down to the DP World Tour, and I wanted to see where I stood in regard to the Ryder Cup,” Garcia said last week at the LIV event in Washington, D.C. “Luke obviously is a good friend, but he made it—I wanted him to be sincere and tell me the truth, and he pretty much told me that I had no chance.“
Garcia, 43, would not make the top six on the European points list and would need to rely on Donald to bring him on the team with one of six captain's picks. But after the conversation with Donald, Garcia relinquished his DP World Tour membership which effectively takes him out of the running for 2023.
“I have a hard time to believe that the best player Europe has ever had, the most successful player Europe has had on the Ryder Cup isn't fit to be on the team,” Rahm said.