Rory McIlroy admitted to being confused over Sergio Garcia’s decision to withdraw from the Irish Open after the latter was not selected to represent Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
“No, I don’t (understand),” McIlroy said Wednesday, one day before the start of the Irish Open at The K Club in County Kildare, Ireland.
“I mean, it would have been great for the tournament if Sergio played, but obviously, he was trying to keep himself sharp, I guess, if he did get a pick. He has the right to enter and pull out of whatever tournaments he wants to. As I said, Luke (Donald), has assembled a very strong 12 players, and I think the right 12 players, and I’m sure he’s disappointed.
“But you know, at the same time, I’m sure he wishes Europe well and wants us to win.”
Garcia withdrew from the DP World Tour event on Tuesday, one day after Donald revealed his six captain’s picks. Garcia — a 10-time Ryder Cup selection — was not among them.
“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 said in an interview with the GolfMagic of the United Kingdom.
“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.”
Garcia, 45, plays in the LIV Golf League, which hampered his ability to earn rankings points toward an automatic qualification. The Spaniard is the all-time leading point scorer in Ryder Cup history.
Donald instead selected Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka, all of whom were part of the winning European team at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome in 2023.
The 45th Ryder Cup will be played Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.
