Sergio Garcia is skipping next week's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Despite moving up to 30th in the European Tour's Race to Dubai standings after a T-11 finish on Sunday at the BMW Masters in China, the Spaniard will take a pass on the no-cut, season-ending event.
Garcia will skip the event for the second time in three years. He didn't play in 2013, along Ernie Els and Charl Schwartzel, as a means of protest that the European Tour required players to compete in two of the first three Final Series events before participating in the 60-player finale. Last year, Garcia participated after the participation guidelines were changed. This season, Garcia has played in both China-based Final Series events, also finishing T-11 at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
However, Garcia offered no formal explanation why he isn't playing this year. As The Guardian suggested, it could be a sign of disdain for the European Tour's version of a playoff or dislike of Jumeriah Golf Estates' Earth Course, the Greg Norman-designed course which hosts the U.A.E.-based tournament.
New European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley will next week announce changes to both the Final Series -- likely reducing the docket from four events to three -- and to the Tour's membership requirements.
The 35-year-old, who still intends to compete in some Asian Tour events before year's end, will be replaced in the field by Scot Stephen Gallacher, who was No. 61 in the standings after the BMW Masters.
