Whisper it, but Sergio Garcia has just put one foot in Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team

While he insists The Open was not his final audition for a role on the Bethpage stage in September, Sergio Garcia is feeling quietly confident he will get that call.

Sergio Garcia has a beaming smile on his face. He has just walked off the course at the 153rd Open and signed for a 68 that will catapult him 19 places up that familiar yellow leaderboard into a tie for 32nd at 3-under-par.

His demeanour is very different to roughly four hours prior when, with his golf ball sailing way left of the second fairway, the fiery Spaniard slammed his driver into the ground, snapping the club right in the middle of the shaft.

“I’ve done that 50 times and I’ve never broken a club,” he jokes. “I wasn’t trying to break it, and I was actually surprised when I saw that.”

It didn’t seem to hinder him at all. He went onto birdie that hole, then averaged 287-yards off the tee on the par-4 and 5 holes for the remainder of the round.

But Garcia is mainly pleased because his performance is just what was needed as he moves into the final stretch of the season.

In a few moments, he will say that this was not his “last chance” to impress captain Ryder Cup Luke Donald, but there’s a glint in Garcia’s eye. Almost like he knows something we don’t.

There are three regular LIV Golf events left in the league’s season, starting at the JCB Club in England next week, before the season-ending Team Championship in August. But Bethpage has been on Garcia’s mind for a while.

Indeed, he has put himself through the wringer in recent months. His domestic form dipped dramatically in the lead up to The Open, and he only made it in via LIV’s season-long standings by the skin of his teeth.

Now, though, he can breathe his second huge sigh of relief in as many weeks. As can Donald. As can Team Europe. As can fans of the yellow and blue across the continent.

Because this wasn’t just an audition for the captain. It was a Ryder Cup audition for them, too.

Still, though, he refuses to give anything away. “It’s no secret that we have been talking,” he replies when asked if he has heard from Donald this week.

Then, the party line: “It would mean the world to me to be there. Obviously if I can help the team, that’s my main goal, I’ve always said it.”

Donald said ahead of the PGA Championship that he would add extra value to experience over rookies when choosing his six picks to join the team at Bethpage.

Garcia smiles a quietly confident smile.

“Obviously going into the US, going into New York, experience is always good,” he explains. “You’re still going to have some rookies there, and I think those experienced guys have a great job to do there to make sure that those rookies know what they’re getting into.

“When you’re out there on the course, it’s nice to have one of those experienced guys to put their arm around you and make you feel like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you.’ When people are shouting at you, and screaming, and wishing you all the bad things that you can think of, it’s easy to get in a little shell and get smaller.

“I was very fortunate to play with Jesper [Parnevik] in ‘99 as a rookie. He made it so easy for me. Obviously we played great, but he made it so much fun and so easy for me to really enjoy the moment and enjoy the Ryder Cup, even being away as tough as the crowds might be.”

Garcia and Jon Rahm formed a formidable partnership at Whistling Straits four years ago, where six-and-a-half of Europe’s nine points that week came from the Spanish duo.

Presuming the pair are on the plane to New York in September, it would certainly give Donald a decision to make. Play the seemingly unbeatable pairing? Or free up Garcia for a mentorship role?   

Garcia is seemingly happy with either. “We played well at Whistling Straits,” he said of Rahm. “I was watching a few YouTube videos this week on our matches there. We had a great time. We gel nicely together. Obviously it’s easy to play with Jon because he’s so good.”

Seemingly aware that he might be getting a bit ahead of himself in such a public space, Garcia reverts to type.

“But it’s still a couple months to go,” he says. “I wish I could have a crystal ball and see the future, but unfortunately, I cannot.”

Donald’s decision, he insists, will be purely on play rather than politics. Even the Ryder Cup’s all-time leading points scorer doesn’t get in the team for being friends with the captain.

“That’s what he’s told me,” Garcia adds. “It’s about my game and what I can bring, what I can add to the team.

“As simple as that.”

It’s starting to feel more and more inevitable that Garcia will be on the team. Even if the man himself won’t say it out loud.

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