Garcia hopes LIV Golf win boosts Ryder Cup chances

LIV Golf Hong Kong - final leaderboard

-18 S Garcia (Spa); -15 D Burmester (SA); -14 P Mickelson (US); -13 Lucas Herbert (Aus); -12 P Casey (Eng)

Selected others: -11 P McKibbin (NI), J Rahm (Spa); -9 G McDowell (NI); -7 T Hatton (Eng); -4 L Westwood (Eng); -2 I Poulter (Eng); +1 D Johnson (US)

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Sergio Garcia hopes winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong title will help persuade Europe captain Luke Donald to pick him for the 2025 Ryder Cup.

The Spaniard shot an impressive seven-under-par 63 to finish 18 under, sealing victory by three strokes from South Africa's Dean Burmester.

Last November Garcia rejoined the DP World Tour for the 2025 season, and settled fines reportedly worth £1m imposed on him by the tour for his previous defection to play LIV events, to make himself eligible for Ryder Cup selection.

Garcia, 45, who is the Ryder Cup's record points scorer, wants to match Lee Westwood and Sir Nick Faldo's European record of 11 appearances at the biennial competition in New York later this year.

"We've been in touch, so I know that he [Donald] is keeping an eye [on me]. The only thing I can do is keep playing good golf," Garcia said after his victory in Hong Kong.

"I just want to help the European team like I've tried to do every single time I've been a member of that team. Hopefully he will think I'm good enough for it."

Garcia is outside the world's top 400 as LIV events do not carry ranking points, so would have to be one of Donald's six wildcard picks.

Donald said last year he had held talks with Garcia over the Ryder Cup, which will be held at Bethpage Black from 26-28 September.

Garcia has won 16 titles on the European tour, as well as 11 PGA Tour titles.

He joined the breakaway LIV Golf, a Saudi Arabia-backed series, in 2022 along with other big names from the sport.

Garcia's victory at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui came after he started the final day tied at the top of the leaderboard with England's Paul Casey and American Peter Uihlein.

The former Masters champion eagled the par-five third then sunk four straight birdies from the eighth hole to the 11th and could not be caught.

It was Garcia's second LIV title following his victory in the LIV Golf Andalucia last year.