of steps required for Sergio Garcia to play in next year’s Ryder Cup were simple. All that mattered was whether he was willing to take them. And thanks to the latest (costly) developments in the past month, the idea of ​​Garcia joining Team Europe looks very likely once again.

Garcia’s Ryder Cup woes began the day he signed the dotted line of a contract with LIV Golf, a rival golf tournament that would require Garcia to compete 14 times a year. Each of those weeks would require Garcia to request a conflict event release form from both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. By the time he started playing for LIV Golf – June 2022 – without concessions from the tournaments he was a member of, he was hit with fines and suspensions.

Garcia anticipated this from the PGA Tour and resigned his membership in America. But he held onto his European Tour membership for a full year, racking up more than $1 million in fines and refusing to pay them. It was believed that perhaps a United Kingdom panel of arbitration for sport would rule against the applicability of the fines, but the DP World Tour won that case in April 2023. Months later, Garcia ended his stay and also resigned from membership of his European, surrendering one important thing in the process: his Ryder Cup playing rights.

To compete in the Ryder Cup, European players must be a member in good standing with the DP World Tour. Garcia’s resignation took him out of contention to compete in Rome in 2023, which would have been his 11th consecutive Cup. The Euros won without him and captain Luke Donald was crowned champion for his commitment to the DPWT while many players from Donald’s generation (Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Garcia) were not involved.

In the year since that European win, it’s clear that Garcia wants to come back.

The 44-year-old Spaniard has paid his fines in full and applied for membership on the DP World Tour, the tour confirmed to GOLF.com. The deadline to do so was Sunday. Bunkereda Scottish golf website, was the first to report on Garcia’s move.

While much time has passed in Garcia’s career at LIV, the accounting department at DP World Tour never forgot those fines. They also haven’t forgotten the suspensions he will be required to serve – both dating back to his previous membership, as well as any subsequent suspensions he receives in the coming months when he starts at LIV Golf.

The top tier of pro golf tours remains at an impasse where a merger of business interests — and likely an end to sanctions for competing in certain periods — is on the table, but negotiations between the PGA Tour, the Saudi PIF and the World Tour DPs remain ongoing, 17 months after they were promised to start. In the event of a deal, it is likely that Garcia’s future fines and suspensions will be overturned, but there is little clarity on when a deal can be expected.

Garcia, meanwhile, is a Category 1 member, meaning he will be able to enter essentially any event after serving his suspension time. This suspension time begins immediately, as the DPWT 2025 season begins this week in Australia.

Despite Garcia starting to make amends, his path to joining Team Europe will almost certainly depend on him collecting one of Donald’s six captain’s picks next September. Garcia will be suspended for (or busy with LIV events) over many weeks in the upcoming calendar to play a lot on the DP World Tour. He is eligible to play in the Masters as a former champion, but not for any of the other three majors. of The PGA of America did NO Garcia case a special invitation last spring to her PGA Championship, and he’ll have to advance through Final Qualifying at the U.S. Open and Open.

In other words, the amount of tournaments in which Garcia could earn enough European Ryder Cup points to automatically qualify for Donald’s list is limited. However, he has shown excellent form in the last 12 months at LIV Golf. How much is that worth to Donald? We’ll have to ask him when the time comes in 2025. Not only did Garcia win the LIV event in Spain, he also finished second three different times, securing third place in the LIV one-year standings behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.

The ultimate truth in how Garcia stacks up against the other Ryder Cup contenders is best seen through the golf analytics site DataGolf. His extremely solid performance at LIV Golf in 2024 ranks Garcia as the 22nd best player in the world right now, alongside the likes of Tony Finau, Wyndham Clark and Tom Kim. He also ranks him as the 8th best European in the world, just behind Shane Lowry. Whether he continues to play at that level (or better than), the decision will be up to Donald, who isn’t shying away from the idea. During one press conference during the year in September, Donald said it was up to Garcia to take the necessary steps to qualify, admitting there had been phone conversations about Garcia’s desire to rejoin Team Europe.