PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — (Sergio Garcia of Spain and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland walk together off a tee during a practice round prior to The PLAYERS Championship on The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 11, 2020. | Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
McIlroy and Garcia disagreed on the state of professional golf, which led to a falling out. They appear to be friends again after a kind gesture.
Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia appear to have ended a brief feud and are friends once again.
The two European Ryder Cup stalwarts disagreed on the PGA Tour-LIV Golf schism, but with professional golf now coming back together, McIlroy and Garcia have come around too.
According to the Spanish outlet Ten Golf, Garcia shot McIlroy a text prior to the U.S. Open to see how they could repair their friendship.
Then, during Sunday’s final round at the Los Angeles Country Club, McIlroy appeared to make a ‘call-me’ gesture from the first tee box towards Garcia as the Spaniard finished up his round on the 18th green.
Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
PARIS, France — Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia celebrate on the 6th green during the morning fourball matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National on September 29, 2018.
The two must have had that conversation since, as Garcia seemed delighted about the nature of his relationship with McIlroy at Valderrama Golf Club, where LIV Golf will stage an event this week.
“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. That’s a very positive thing.”
That friend is obviously McIlroy, who was in Garcia’s wedding party in 2017.
McIlroy, a stauch critic of LIV, blasted Garcia for defecting to the breakaway tour last summer.
But the two are now at peace, similar to the state of professional golf.
Maybe McIlroy advocates for Garcia to serve as a Ryder Cup captain in the future.
After all, Garcia is the winningest Ryder Cupper in history.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
