Call for Sergio Garcia in the Ryder Cup team

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"The DP World Tour would shoot itself in the foot if the European players who are in LIV Golf are not considered eligible for this year's Ryder Cup in Rome, as their American counterparts are still eligible," the former said on Wednesday.

US Open champion Graeme McDowell and who gave victory to Europe with his point in the singles on Sunday at the 2010 edition of the Ryder held in Wales.

Sergio Garcia, situation

Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, who have played 28 Ryder Cups between the three and are now in the LIV Series, are ineligible for this year's edition of the biennial competition after withdrawing from the DP World Tour in May.

However, American players who joined the LIV circuit can still qualify for Team USA as they are members of the PGA Tour, such as PGA winner Brooks Koepka. "Ignoring LIV for political reasons when the US has those players on their team doesn't make any sense," McDowell, also a former Europe vice-captain who plays for the Saudi-backed tour, told the BBC.

"It makes the European tour look silly. I hope that if one of LIV's European players has a summer worthy of a place in the Ryder Cup team, the landscape is in place for that to happen," he added. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV tour, which had been in a bloody battle that divided golf, announced in early June an agreement to merge and form a unified business entity.

Northern Irishman McDowell, who was part of the winning team in three of his four Ryder Cup appearances, also called for the reinstatement of Garcia, who holds the record for the most points scored by the European team in history.

"I think that Sergio García is probably the leader right now and that the 'team room' of the European team would be better with the man from Castellón forming part of it," said McDowell. "I read what happened with him and Rory McIlroy (resolving their differences) and I'm super glad they overcame obstacles that shouldn't have come between them: politics and business.

I'd love to see them walk down a street in Rome and win a foursome together I think that's what all the European fans want for the Ryder Cup," he concluded. The Ryder Cup will be held from September 29 to October 1 at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, just outside Rome.