In a fatal blow to irony, Sergio Garcia says it was Rory McIlroy’s lack of “maturity” that brought a “sad” end to the once close friendship between the two golf stars.
McIlroy, who was a groomsman at Garcia’s 2017 wedding, and the Spaniard have been at odds since last summer when the two had a testy text exchange during the U.S. Open over LIV Golf, the controversial Saudi-backed circuit that McIlroy has been outspoken against and Garcia split for last year.
Garcia slammed his former Ryder Cup teammate and blamed the Northern Irishman for the fractured relationship.
“I think it is very sad,” Garcia told The Telegraph. “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.
“Rory’s got his own life and he makes his own choices, the same way that I make mine. I respect his choice, but it seems like he doesn’t respect the ones I make. So a one-way street.”
Earlier this year, McIlroy said simply there was “no way” he would rekindle his friendship with Garcia after the Spaniard told him in the aforementioned text messages to “shut up” about LIV.
It’s also not the first time that Garcia has fired back over what has often turned into golf’s un-civil war.
In December, the former Masters champion took a shot at PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan after Tiger Woods said LIV Golf’s CEO and commissioner Greg Norman had to go in order for the two sides to try to reach a compromise.
“They say that Greg Norman has to go; and Monahan has to stay or go?” Garcia said. “It’s very easy to say those on the other side have to go. And those on your side? There are also people who have done things wrong.”
Garcia, 43, also has had his share of wrongdoing in his career.
Last year, he had a contentious run-in with a rules official at the Wells Fargo Championship, barking at the official, “I can’t wait to get off this tour.” At the 2019 Saudi International, he went ballistic in a bunker, damaged as many as five greens and was disqualified from the tournament. At a 2013 awards dinner, he made a racist fried chicken “joke” about Tiger Woods. And at the 2007 WGC-CA Championship at Doral, he spit into a cup after missing a short putt.
Other missteps by Garcia through the years have included hurling his driver in anger on multiple occasions, complaining that Woods would’ve gotten favorable treatment from officials during a rainy 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black and throwing his shoe at a sign after having slipped while hitting a drive during the 1999 World Match Play Championship.
As for his once close relationship with McIlroy, Garcia said he’s open to the two talking before taking another dig at the four-time major winner.
“I don’t have a problem with him. He’s the one that has a problem,” Garcia said of McIlroy on Thursday. “So if he wants to reconcile, then I’m willing to talk, but I’m not sure he’ll pull himself down to that level.”
The next tournament both players will tee it up is at the Masters in April.
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