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Ryder Cup stalwart Sergio Garcia has withdrawn from this week’s Amgen Irish Open on the DP World Tour, after Luke Donald did not pick him for Team Europe in this month’s Ryder Cup, admitting he would “not be fully engaged.”
In an interview with GolfMagic, the 45-year-old, who had been scheduled to return to the event that gave him his first professional win on the DP World Tour (European Tour) back in 1999, confirmed the reason behind his last-minute withdrawal from the event.
“The call with Luke was fine, but not the call I wanted, obviously, but the conversation was fine,” Garcia said.
“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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The 2017 Masters champion, who has slipped to 411th in the Official World Golf Ranking since joining LIV Golf, had been warned by Donald in the lead-up to the picks that Garcia would need to show something at LIV Golf’s season-ending Team Championship in order to have any chance of receiving one of his six picks. The Fireballs GC skipper could only muster a finish in eighth out of the 12 teams. The writing was on the wall for the record Ryder Cup points scorer (28.5).
“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.”
Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2025 Amgen Irish Open
Impact on the Irish Open Field
Despite Sergio Garcia now not playing, the field for the 2025 Amgen Irish Open remains as strong as ever. Career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy, Irish major winners Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry, and European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald are all teeing it up in County Kildare.
They are joined by fellow major champions Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari and Danny Willett, adding further star quality to the Amgen Irish Open field. Recent DP World Tour winners Tyrrell Hatton, Martin Couvra, Eugenio Chacarra, Marco Penge and Danish breakout star Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen will also be in the field at The K Club.
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