‘I gained a friend back,’ says Sergio Garcia after rekindling with Rory McIlroy
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Sergio Garcia (left) said that he and Rory McIlroy resumed their friendship at the recent US Open.
PHOTOS: EPA-EFE, AFP
GDANSK – Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy have reconciled and rekindled their friendship after the pair had fallen out in 2022 following the former’s switch to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, the Spaniard said on Wednesday.
McIlroy had said in September that his relationship with some of his former Ryder Cup teammates was damaged by their decision to join the breakaway circuit, and that also led to biting remarks between the two long-time friends in public.
However, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and rival LIV Golf circuit, which had been involved in a bitter fight that split the sport, earlier in June announced an agreement to merge and form one unified commercial entity.
“I think it’s great,” Garcia said ahead of this week’s LIV Golf event at Valderrama.
“In my personal opinion, I wish this would have happened a year and a half ago when we all started, and it would have been better for all of us. I really think so.”
He also said that it was during the recent US Open that he and Northern Irishman McIlroy talked and resumed their friendship, which goes way back before they played together on the European Ryder Cup team.
While Garcia left for LIV Golf, McIlroy stood tall as the outspoken loyalist of the PGA Tour.
“The US Open was a great event for me,” Garcia said. “I finished 27th... I feel like I played well.
“But more than anything, because I gained a friend back, a friend that I kind of felt like I lost in the last year or so.”
Their reunion may not have been possible without the support of their wives, the 43-year-old revealed.
“Angela, and Erica, they said ‘Hi’ to each other at the US Open, and there was a nice text from Rory to (Garcia’s wife Angela), and that kind of gave me the incentive to reach out to him,” Garcia explained.
“I have been thinking about it for a while, but I wasn’t totally sure about it. And when I saw that reaction from him, he kind of gave me the go-ahead to kind of get closer and we had a great chat.
“I think that at the end of the day, the important thing is that we got together and talked – we were two friends that wanted to get back to that spot.
“No doubt it was the saddest part of all of this, these friendships turning sour.” REUTERS
