Sergio Garcia has confirmed he is walking away from LIV Golf and returning to the DP World Tour, and the Spaniard has made no secret of what is driving him: a place on Europe’s team at the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in County Limerick next year.
Garcia, 46, announced the move in a statement on X on Thursday afternoon. He described the DP World Tour as a huge part of his career from the beginning and said he was proud to call it home again, according to the BBC. He is keeping the door open to a return to the PGA Tour as well.
Why Garcia is leaving LIV
Garcia was one of LIV’s original headliners when he left the PGA Tour in June 2022, captaining the Fireballs GC team and, according to the BBC, winning two individual LIV titles in five seasons. But the Saudi-backed circuit has been in turmoil. The BBC reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrew its backing in April and LIV filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States last month. The Irish Times said that filing was for Chapter 11 protection, and that Garcia had already asked a federal judge earlier this autumn to end his LIV contract.
Garcia will not be part of what has been dubbed LIV 2.0, the planned second phase of the league, the BBC said. He is far from alone. The Irish Times reported that Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Tom McKibbin are also leaving LIV, while the BBC listed Jon Rahm, Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton among those who have already departed.
The Adare Manor dream
The 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor would be Garcia’s 11th appearance. He is Europe’s all-time leading points scorer in the competition and, per the BBC, was on the winning side in six of his ten previous matches.
The road back has not been smooth. The DP World Tour sanctioned Garcia for breaching its rules when he joined LIV, which left him ineligible for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome. The BBC reported that he paid more than £1 million in fines to regain eligibility for 2025, but he was not picked for the team at Bethpage.
The BBC said Garcia would love to be at Adare Manor as a player or a vice-captain, although under current tour rules he can play but cannot serve as a future captain or vice-captain. That makes playing his way into the team the only realistic route, and he appears to know it. “In golf, everything is earned and nothing is given,” he said, as quoted by The Irish Times.
Augusta, and some unfinished business
Garcia also wants another green jacket. He won the Masters in 2017, his only major, and plans to tee it up at Augusta again next April. His most recent visit made headlines for the wrong reasons: The Irish Times noted he received a code-of-conduct warning after breaking his driver on the second hole this year, an outburst for which he has since apologised, according to the BBC.
Irish fans have a long history with Garcia. His first DP World Tour title came at the 1999 Irish Open, and he has won 16 times on the circuit in total, most recently at the 2019 KLM Open, The Irish Times reported.
What happens next
Garcia’s first task is rebuilding his DP World Tour status and world ranking when the new season begins. Ryder Cup qualifying points, strong results in the big events and the captain’s eye will all matter between now and September 2027. For Irish golf, the more immediate question is where McKibbin and McDowell will play next season, and whether the LIV exodus brings a host of familiar faces back to DP World Tour events in Ireland.
Sources
- The Irish Times: Sergio Garcia targets 11th Ryder Cup appearance next year (29 October 2026)
- BBC Sport via Yahoo Sports: Garcia targets Ryder Cup return as he confirms LIV exit (29 October 2026)
Featured image: View of Adare Manor from Golf Course.jpg by SullyShave, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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