Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia hoping for ‘special’ Ryder Cup pairing

Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia made for an unstoppable team at the 2021 Ryder Cup. The Spaniards are not shy about wanting to recreate that magic this fall at Bethpage Black.

They're now both members of LIV Golf, but unlike with the 2023 team, Team Europe is not prohibiting any LIV players from competing this time around.

Garcia, the winningest individual player in Ryder Cup history, tied for 34th at this week's Open Championship and was asked Sunday whether European captain Luke Donald assured him his six captain's picks will be made on golfing terms alone.

"Yeah, for sure. That's what he's told me," Garcia said. "Yeah, it's just about how my game is and what I can bring, what I can add to the team, as simple as that."

Garcia, 45, competed in 10 out of 11 Ryder Cups between 1999 and 2021 and racked up a record 28.5 points for Europe in that span. In 2021, he played with Rahm, an ascending young talent months removed from his first major victory at the time.

Rahm and Garcia went 3-0-0 together, beating Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth 3 and 1 in foursomes, Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger 3 and 1 in foursomes, and Koepka and Spieth 2 and 1 in fourball across Friday and Saturday.

"Jon and I are good friends. We played well when we played at Whistling Straits," Garcia said. "I was watching a few YouTube videos this week of our matches there. We had a great time. We jell nicely together. Obviously it's easy to play with Jon because he's so good."

Rahm -- who also tied for 34th on Sunday with Garcia and others -- said he is hoping to get the call from Donald before he worries about Garcia or whomever he may play with.

"It would be very special," Rahm said. "... He would be a fantastic guy obviously with his Ryder Cup experience, how he played in the Northeast and actually having played at Bethpage, having played well at Bethpage in the past, so somebody that's familiar with the golf course. He's definitely somebody that should be in Luke's radar.

"Played fantastic earlier in the year too. He was playing some extremely high-quality golf. Maybe not so much the last six weeks or so. I played with him last week in Valderrama, and he was still striking it beautifully, which is what you need in many aspects of golf in the Ryder Cup."

Rahm played in the 2023 Ryder Cup for a victorious Team Europe in Rome before shocking the golf world by leaving the PGA Tour for LIV.

Rahm and Garcia do not earn points in the European Ryder Cup rankings by playing LIV events, so they will have to get in via captain's picks. The top six in the rankings entering this weekend were Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland (already qualified), Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, Austria's Sepp Straka and Irishman Shane Lowry.

Hatton joined LIV at the same time as Rahm, but he has amassed enough points from major championship finishes (including a T4 at last month's U.S. Open) and DP World Tour events (including a victory at the Dubai Desert Classic in January) to sit in fourth.

--Field Level Media