GULLANE (Scotland) — It’s hard to make up.
McIlroy would not go as far as Sergio Garcia, who recently said that “I have my friend back” in reference to their public feud over Rory McIlroy’s defection from LIV to LIV.
McIlroy stated, “We have talked. That is the first step.”
McIlroy and Garcia were so close that McIlroy attended Garcia’s 2017 wedding. The feud between PGA Tour vs. LIV has affected their friendship in the last year. Garcia said McIlroy lacked “maturity” and McIlroy admitted he deleted Garcia’s phone number after he told him to “basically shut up about LIV” during the RBC Canadian 2022.
The framework agreement between the Tour, PIF and the U.S. Open was signed on 6 June. It is meant to, among other things, repair the relationship that has been fractured in the professional world. Garcia explained how he and McIlroy were able to re-connect at the LIV London tournament after McIlroy had interacted with Garcia’s wife, Angela at the U.S. Open event last month.
Garcia stated that “the U.S. Open has been a wonderful event for me.” “I think I played well.” More than anything else, I got a good friend back. A friend I felt I had lost over the past year. I felt like I had that friend back after we talked. It’s very positive.”
Garcia revealed that Rory and Angela had said “hi” to each other during the U.S. Open. “And Rory sent her a nice message.” This gave me a little push to contact him.
“I’d been thinking about this for a long time, but I wasn’t sure. When I saw his reaction, it was like he gave me permission to move closer. We had a wonderful conversation. Two friends wanted to go back to the spot. “That’s what matters most.”
McIlroy was asked at his Genesis Scottish Open news conference on Sunday if he felt happy to have his friendship back with Garcia. He replied, “Yeah. There are things we both feel we could have done better, and a lot of factors went into that.” It’s great that we are at least speaking again. It’s the first step. “I wouldn’t say that we have reached the goal but we have made a great start.”
