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The Case For Sergio Garcia : Bethpage Black
Do Sergio Garcia's Stats REALLY Support his Ryder Cup Ambitions?
Tee Times
November 04, 2024
Sergio Garcia - Ryder Cup hopeful?
Do Sergio Garcia’s stats support his ambition for future Ryder Cups?
In an exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, 2017 Masters Champions who is just a few months shy of his 45th birthday, envisions himself playing two or three more Ryder Cups.
“I feel like my game’s still good enough to play at least two or three Ryder Cups, so if I can keep that level going, hopefully everything gets sorted and we can get to that point.”
His win at the 1995 European Amateur was the start of what’s been an incredible career in professional golf. It wasn’t until 2017 where he’d claim his first, and to date only major championship when he defeated Justin Rose on the first hole of a playoff.
In the years following that, he’d win on the PGA Tour, a few times on the European Tour and once on the Asian Tour. 18 months after his last professional win, he’d leave the establishment and play in the inaugural LIV Golf event in London. His winless stretch would continue as he captained Fireballs GC, though Sergio would land in the top 10 a handful of times in the 2022 and 2023 season. In 2023 he finished 17th in the season long rankings, a season he’d describe as “nothing spectacular”.
“It's been okay. It's been solid. Nothing spectacular. Obviously I had a couple chances of winning with Singapore being the closest one.
But overall it's been a work in process. Working hard not only on the game but on the mental side and trying to be as positive as possible.
I'm happy about that, but obviously I feel like I could definitely play better than I have for sure.”
He added:
Do I feel like I’m on top of my game? No, definitely not. I think that I can still get much better. I have been much better. But you work on it, you work hard on it, and you try to improve every single time you come out here.
These quotes were from the penultimate individual event for LIV Golf in 2023 at Rich Harvest Farms just outside of Chicago. While he’d place T14 there, that interview, and those quotes seemed to be the start of a promising trend for Garcia. A trend that very well could result in a return to the Ryder Cup roster at Bethpage.
The following event he’d finish T3, and he’d start the 2024 season off with a solo 2nd in Mayakoba after a heartbreaking loss to Joaquin Niemann in an under the lights playoff.
Not long after that event, he’d go through it all again in Miami, losing to Dean Burmester in a two hole playoff. But his form remained strong for the rest of the season. Another top 10 in Houston, and then a T12 at the US Open that he had to go out and qualify for.
Then LIV Golf would return to Valderrama, Sergio’s favorite course and a place where he’s won multiple times. For the third time in the 2024 season he’d find himself in playoff, this time against Anirban Lahiri. This time he’d come out on top.
He’d finish the season with two top 10s in the final two individual events of the season, continuing the great form that he’d worked his way into throughout the season. A 2nd place finish in the final individual event of the season meant he’d finish 3rd in the season long standings. Behind only Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann, ahead of players like Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, and more.
“But - he’s outside the top 400 in the OWGR and isn’t eligible!”
Now there’s obviously a lot that has to happen for him to actually end up on the Ryder Cup team at Bethpage, and we’ll leave that up to the powers that be, but does his play really support him being on the roster?
Yes. Yes it does.
Looking through both DataGolf and TUGR’s performance based rankings, it absolutely does. He’s the 22nd ranked player in the world per DataGolf, and the 20th per TUGR.
This makes him the 8th ranked European player in the world per DataGolf and the 7th per TUGR. Average the two ranking systems together and he’s in 7th, behind only Rahm, McIlroy, Hatton, Aberg, Fleetwood, and Hovland.
When Sergio Garcia said last year that he knew he could play better and was going to continue working hard on it, DataGolf had him ranked just outside the top 100 players in the world. One year later he’s inside the top 25. If he’s able to maintain this form through the first half of 2023 and the powers that be allow him to be picked, it’s not going to put the captains in a difficult spot. It’s going to be easy. He’d be an obvious choice.
The case for Sergio Garcia is really, really simple:
Experience - Should he play in Bethpage, it will be his 11th Ryder Cup appearance, tying for the most in European History. Having experienced Ryder Cup veterans on the team is invaluable to the team as a whole.
Form - As detailed above, he’s in great form. In the span of one year he was able to climb from outside of the top 100, to inside the top 25. If he continues playing at the level he is currently, it’s an easy pick.
Performance - Sergio Garcia has more points in the Ryder Cup than any player in history. He’s 1st. No other active player is even close. No active player even has half as many points as he does. As much as it pains me to say as a USA Ryder Cup die-hard, he’s the greatest Ryder Cup player of all time. These points weren’t all from earlier in his career either, he got 3 in 2021 and in 2018.
So while it might sound a little bit wild to hear him say he wants to play in two or three more Ryder Cups, he’s got the game to support it. That’s unquestionable.
We know the US Captain Keegan Bradley is dedicated to inviting the best players regardless of what tour they play on - will the European Tour allow Luke Donald to do the same?
