Ask Rory McIlroy who his golf heroes were growing up, and he’ll name-drop Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia. But just because they’re his idols doesn’t mean he’s shy about butting heads with them. The world’s No. 2 didn’t hold back in airing his beef with Garcia, especially after the latter jumped ship to LIV.
The pair used to be close friends and teammates, having even been invited to each other’s weddings. But things took a nosedive when Garcia decided to join a different tour, a decision McIlroy took offense over. “On the Friday of the U.S. Open … I woke up to a text that was sent at 5.30 that morning. He had an early tee time, I didn’t, and I woke up to this text basically telling me to shut up about LIV, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” he told the Irish Independent (via Golf). “I was pretty offended and sent him back a couple of daggers, and that was it.”
Garcia, meanwhile, thought McIlroy was being a tad unreasonable for being so worked up over a professional decision that he didn’t hesitate to throw their friendship away. “I think it is 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,” he shared with The Telegraph. “I respect his choices, but it seems like he doesn’t respect the ones I make.” Yikes!
