Some light has finally been shed on the reconciliation of the star-studded golf beef between Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia that saw the best friends become enemies thanks to LIV Golf.
The first opening for the two to start repairing their relationship hit when Garcia said Mcllroy and his wife Angela said “Hi” to each other at the U.S. Open earlier this year, followed by the two exchanging text messages.
Garcia saw it as a chance to reach out to McIIroy.
‘I love my friends and I don’t want to lose many,” Garcia told The Times in England.
Things had taken a turn in their relationship when Mcllroy called Garcia out for signing his massive deal — worth a reported $40 million — with the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf last summer.
The two had a testy exchange at the 2022 U.S. Open over LIV and Garcia blamed McIlroy — a staunch PGA Tour advocate — for their rift.
“I think it is very sad,” Garcia said of McIlroy in February. “I think that we’ve done so many things together and had so many experiences that for him to throw that away just because I decided to go to a different tour, well, it doesn’t seem very mature; lacking maturity, really.”
Garcia and Mcllroy have been friends for years, with Mcllroy serving as a groomsman at Garcia’s bridal 2017 wedding.
The two appear on the path to repair that bond.
“I’m very happy with where we’re headed now and the relationships we are getting back,” Garcia said. “I just wish it hadn’t taken so long to get here.”
The two have welcomed some communication back and forth.
“We had a great chat,” Garcia said. “It was two friends that wanted to get back to that spot. That’s the most important thing.”
This easing of tensions comes as LIV Golf and the PGA Tour agreed to an armistice themselves when they agreed to merge in early June.
Garcia was overjoyed but the news saying he had gotten his friend back.
Garcia and Mcllroy will be on tour together again once the LIV Golf and PGA merger is complete as all parties make peace.
‘It was very important to me and, I think, for Rory too,” Garcia said. “It felt like there was this little hole left and we were both a bit sorry for everything that happened.”
