Garcia voices frustration with McIlroy ahead of LIV Season Opener. Issues between the rival tours still need to be fixed
It seems that despite winning numerous Ryder Cups and sharing several emotional moments together, there is no love lost between former European teammates Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy.
Tensions between the pair first arose after Garcia decided to leave the PGA Tour and sign with the Saudi backed tour, LIV Golf.
Over the past twelve months McIlroy has been one of the biggest critics of the breakaway league and has established himself as one of the PGA Tour’s staunchest defenders.
Due to his uncompromising position, the Northern Irishman has seemingly severed ties with former Ryder Cup teammates Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson and has cast major doubts whether any of his former friends should ever play for or even captain the European side in the future.
Garcia is Europe’s leading point scorer in the Ryder Cup and has already expressed his desire to play in another edition of the bi-annual event. Speaking ahead of the LIV season opener in Mexico, Garcia revealed more on the breakdown of his relationship with McIlroy. Speaking to Golf Digest, Garcia stated;
‘I think it’s very sad, 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. But Rory’s got his own life, and he makes his own choices, the same way that I make mine. I respect his choices, but it seems like he doesn’t respect the ones I make.”
Garcia’s comments aren’t the first time someone from LIV has aired their displeasure about the Northern Irishman’s no nonsense approach when it comes to the breakaway tour.
Back in 2022, Patrick Reed branded the Northern Irishman’s stance as ‘disrespectful with the relationship between the two getting so bad that on Christmas Eve, McIlroy received litigation papers from Reed based on the ongoing dispute between the two rival tours.
Many in the world of golf believe that the tensions between the PGA Tour and LIV have reached a breaking point, with many hoping that both sides can move on from the petty arguments and find a way to work together.
With the two rival tours still pulling each other apart, there are many huge issues that are impacting the sport. Arguably the biggest issue is whether world ranking points should be attributed to LIV events. Currently LIV participants don’t receive any ranking points causing many top players to slide drastically down the rankings. Of the current LIV roster, only Cam Smith sits inside the world’s top twenty, with former world number one’s Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka having fallen all the way down to 54 and 84 respectively.
2023 is a huge season for LIV. It’s first full season, there are 14 events scheduled to take place throughout the year. The action kicks off in Mexico this weekend with 48 players all vying for the first place prize of $4,000,000.
Aidan is a low-handicap golfer who came from over 110 to breaking 80 in less than 1 year.
Aidan has become obsessed with becoming a scratch golfer and plays golf on every possible occasion, even in the snow!
