Sergio Garcia says Europe will make 'extra effort' in Ryder Cup for murdered Celia Barquin Arozamena

"Hopefully we can make sure that the family are proud of what we are doing for her."

By Mathieu Wood

Wednesday 26 September 2018 10:15, UK

Sergio Garcia says Europe have added motivation to regain the Ryder Cup following the murder of Spanish amateur golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena.

The European team will wear a yellow ribbon throughout the week at Le Golf National with Celia's name on it as a mark of respect in the wake of the tragic news.

Garcia described Barquin, who had been working towards securing an LPGA Tour card later this year while finishing her degree at Iowa State University, as a "special person" when he paid tribute, among many others, to her last week.

"Obviously we want to try to win the Cup for Europe, for everyone, for our team-mates, but obviously with the passing of Celia, it's an extra effort there," Garcia said.

"We hope that we can play as well as we can to make sure that we can achieve that. We're obviously touched by it because it's disappointing to see something happen like that, to anyone, but to someone like her even more.

"Hopefully we can make sure that the family are proud of what we are doing for her. I know they are; I haven't spoken to them, but some other people have spoken to them, and they told us that."

European captain Thomas Bjorn said the death of the 22-year-old had "hit everybody in the golf family" and added they believed it was important to make a gesture of respect.

"Obviously, the golfing family extends way beyond what we are trying to do this week," Bjorn said on Tuesday.

"Those events in America, with Celia being killed while playing golf, is something that's hit everybody in the golf family, and obviously our two Spanish players very much.

"We felt that, after a conversation between Ryder Cup Europe with Celia's mother, we would honour her this week.

"That's what we are doing, and it's nothing about us, but it's just more about the fact that the golfing family gets touched by these things all over the world. It's terrible when things like this happen.

"Such a great prospect for the game of golf, she was, but also a wonderful person. And when you speak to Sergio and Jon [Rahm] about it, they both couldn't talk highly enough about her. We felt like that was appropriate for the week."