Sergio Garcia had a blast at the 2023 U.S. Open.
He earned his spot the difficult way via final qualifying, then finished T-27 at Los Angeles Country Club. The Spaniard also got his buddy back.
Ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Andalucia event at Valderrama in Spain, Garcia told reporters how he and Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy have since rekindled their longtime friendship that was fractured after Garcia joined the upstart Saudi-backed circuit.
McIlroy walked past Garcia’s wife, Angela, and the two exchanged a hello two weeks ago in L.A. The Northern Irishman followed up the pleasantry with a text, which opened the door for Garcia to approach McIlroy.
“I think that at the end of the day, the important thing is that we got together, we talked, we had a great conversation with two friends that wanted to get back to that spot,” García said on Wednesday in Spain. “And that’s the most important thing.”
Garcia and McIlroy attended each other’s weddings and have been teammates on five separate occasions for the Ryder Cup, where they boast a 2-0-2 record when paired together. McIlroy even said Garcia was one of his idols.
At the 2022 U.S. Open, McIlroy previously told the story of how Garcia texted him that Friday, “basically telling me to shut up about LIV, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”
“I was pretty offended and sent him back a couple of daggers and that was it,” McIlroy added.
Back in February, Garcia said McIlroy lacked maturity with his stance on players who left for LIV. But now, it appears all is well between the two.
“It was a great event for me,” García said of the U.S. Open. “Not only because of that. 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.”
