Sergio Garcia still considers his former Ryder Cup comrade Rory McIlroy a ‘friend’ despite the tension between them due to the rift between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Garcia made headlines when he left the PGA Tour for the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf two years ago. 

McIlroy, on the other hand, has been vocal in his opposition, positioning himself as one of the most outspoken critics of the LIV Golf enterprise.

In the heat of golf’s internal conflict towards the end of 2022, McIlroy disclosed that during the US Open in June of that year, 

Garcia had texted him, essentially telling him to ‘shut up’ about disparaging the new breakaway league.

“He was basically telling me to shut up about LIV, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” McIlroy recounted to the Irish Independent. 

“I was pretty offended and sent him back a couple of daggers and that was it.”

Since that exchange, it seems the two have made efforts to mend their friendship. Reflecting on the incident a year later, Garcia acknowledged that a conversation between his wife Angela and McIlroy at the 2023 US Open helped thaw the frosty relations, leading to a renewal of their friendship. “Angela and Rory said ‘Hi’ to each other at the US Open,” Garcia remarked last June, recalling the moment that helped bridge the gap.

“And there was a nice text from Rory to her. That kind of gave me the go-ahead to reach out to him. I had 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 get closer. We had a great chat. It was two friends that wanted to get back to that spot. That’s the most important thing.”

McIlroy still fired a dig in the direction at Garcia some months later. The Northern Irishman had previously suggested that LIV could co-exist with the PGA Tour in a similar fashion to cricket’s Indian Premier League, taking a one-month slot in the season.

Garcia meanwhile was less than impressed with this suggestion, telling the Evening Standard that he felt LIV ‘deserved more’ than four weeks a season. The response was posed to McIlroy at the Dubai Desert Classic in January, as he rolled his eyes and commented: “Yeah, Sergio feels he deserves a lot of things.

However it appears there is in fact no bad blood between the ex-Ryder Cup teammates. Garcia was asked on an Instagram Q&A who his favorite pro golfer was, and included McIlroy in the list. ” I love to watch my friends,” he replied. “The guys I get along with.

“Guys like Jon Rahm, my teammates at Fireballs and Rory and guys like that. I don’t have anyone in particular but my idol was always Seve [Ballesteros] and [Jose Maria] Olazabal. Yeah, that is what it is. “.

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Source: USA Today