As the fences continue to mend following the groundbreaking merger between the PGA Tour and the entity that controls LIV Golf, it looks like cross-tour friendships are being re-established, too.
2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who was one of the major names to defect from the PGA to its Saudi-backed rival, said the ceasefire has allowed him to resume his friendship with Rory McIlroy, who was one of LIV’s most vocal critics.
“At the end of the day, like I said, to me, the most important thing is that I, you know, I got my friend back… that’s what matters the most,” Garcia told Irish Golfer Magazine. “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. Like I said, no doubt it was the saddest part of all of this, these friendships turning sour.”
Garcia was one of several big names that left the PGA Tour since LIV’s inception in 2021, along with players such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Phil Mickelson.
Players were lured over to the rival circuit with massive guaranteed payments that far surpassed what Tour players were earning; Mickelson reportedly received $200 million to defect while Johnson got $125 million.
McIlroy, who was one of the highest-profile golfers to stick on the PGA Tour, became one of the tour’s most vocal supporters, often taking shots at LIV and their golfers for the Saudis’ numerous human rights violations.
Clearly, that affected his friendship with Garcia, who was McIlroy’s teammate on the Ryder Cup for several years.
However, with the landmark decision earlier in June, the two sides agreed to come together and form a new golf league – which will be bankrolled by the same Saudi Public Investment Fund that supports LIV.
Apparently, that’s led to the mending of fences among golfers as well – which started at this year’s U.S. Open, when LIV Golfers were allowed to play again.
“It wasn’t because of the merger, but the U.S. Open was a great event for me,” Garcia said. “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. We talked and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I have that friend back and that to me means a lot.”
