Ryder Cup 2025: Sergio Garcia "didn't help himself", says Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm will always root for his friend Sergio Garcia, but he admits his fellow Spaniard did not make enough of a case to earn a pick for Europe's Ryder Cup team.

Garcia hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago when he withdrew from the Amgen Irish Open and, in an exclusive interview with GolfMagic, he aired his frustrations over being overlooked by European captain Luke Donald.

"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 told our Andy Roberts before going on to insist he would not be "fully engaged" enough to play at The K Club.

Rory McIlroy admitted he did not fully understand why Garcia had opted to miss the Irish Open, and agreed that Donald will have the 12 best players possible to face the US at Bethpage Black.

And Rahm has now echoed that sentiment, saying that Garcia's form on the LIV Golf circuit dropped off after a strong start to the year.

Garcia won the third event of the year in Hong Kong and earned a top-three finish in Miami, but he posted only one further top-10 over the remaining eight tournaments.

The 45-year-old also failed to impress in the three majors he played this year, with a best finish of 34th in The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush.

Despite his wavering form, he was clearly upset at not being among Donald's captain's picks for this month's Ryder Cup, but Rahm is not surprised by his omission.

Asked if he felt that Garcia should have been on the team, Rahm said: "My heart is always going to say yes. He's a good friend of mine, he's a Spanish player, and the moments we shared in Whistling Straits and Paris, personally I'm always going to want him around. 

"He did play good early on in the year, very, very good. He was playing incredible golf, maybe in some parts of the world that you weren't watching. It seemed like from April on, he didn't keep that level. So I don't think he helped himself.

"I understand that while we are not earning points or the rankings, we need to make a really strong case to be picked. 

"Had he kept that level he might have been on the team but he didn't play as good as he could have. Subjectively, though, I'm always going to root for him."

Elsewhere, Rahm said he 'completely forgot' about the situation with his LIV Golf fines that could affect his Ryder Cup future.