Amid a raucous atmosphere at Texas vs Alabama last weekend, a surprise visitor emerged onto the field: Sergio Garcia. As the Spanish golfer soaked up the best of college football, golf was left to digest the sheer contempt shown to the DP World Tour 48 hours after strutting around Wentworth. Garcia swiftly withdrew from the prestigious BMW PGA Championship after a scrappy four-over-par opening round of 76, leaving him 12 shots adrift of the leaders.
We can all imagine Garcia’s frustration, faced with a mountain to climb in pursuit of the cut and those precious world ranking points now craved more than ever before by most LIV Golf players, who are stuck in a precarious position when it comes to next year’s majors. A speedy exit, while somewhat distasteful, was understandable, flaunting so soon without a proper explanation was the latest example of a legacy dented in recent years. Garcia was once the face of European golf and can point to a green jacket in 2017 and his formidable Ryder Cup record as Europe’s leading points scorer. But those shimmering moments have quickly descended into the darkness since racing towards LIV Golf and the murky source of its Saudi millions.
