Rory McIlroy Takes the High Road After Sergio Garcia’s Emotional Reaction to Team Europe Rejection

There was a time when the European Ryder Cup team couldn’t be seen separately from Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard has been the team’s beating heart for two decades, building a record a 28.5 points that no one else has yet been able to touch. But now, at 45, he finds himself on the outside of a team built for the future. His absence is felt at the ongoing Amgen Irish Open, where he withdrew last minute because of his Ryder Cup snub. An emotional reaction, one might say, but it has surely raised several questions. And as fate would have it, one of those questions landed at Rory McIlroy‘s feet.

Garcia was reportedly spotted in the crowd at The K Club last night, which raised several eyebrows. McIlroy, attending the press conference ahead of the event, gave a pointedly calm response when asked about the same. He himself had seen Garcia the previous night, and he backed the Spaniard’s move of not playing in the tournament. “It would have been great for the tournament if Sergio played, but obviously, he was trying to keep himself sharp, I guess, if he did get a pick. Look, he has the right to enter and pull out of whatever tournaments he wants to.”

Yes, Rory, you are right. But the reason Garcia gave while announcing his decision struck an emotional chord with many. The day after Luke Donald finalized his twelve-member squad, Garcia bluntly revealed that he wasn’t in the right space. “I felt like I was so looking forward to being a part of the team, and so I felt like mentally, you know, mentally it was kind of tough,” he admitted exclusively to GolfMagic. He further substantiated how he didn’t want to participate if he couldn’t give his all in. Hence, he would rather spend some time with his family to recharge his batteries.

His reaction was something golf fans saw coming. Garcia had done enough in the past few years to get a ticket to the Ryder Cup team. Even after resigning his DP World Tour membership in the wake of heavy sanctions tied to LIV Golf, Garcia had quietly tried to keep the door open. He re-joined the tour, cleared all his fines, and even spoke to Donald in hopes of one last call-up. But his performance at the majors, the only avenues for him to prove his calibre for a Ryder Cup selection, fell short — the very reason Luke Donald decided to leave him this time.

Ahead of his opening round at The K Club, Donlad finally revealed his decision not to go with Garcia. “Well, Sergio is disappointed, like all the others who felt like they might have had a chance to make the team. Unfortunately, with Sergio, I felt like his form wasn’t quite good enough to make a team full of so many people playing well.”

The same belief is affirmed by McIlroy, who had already automatically qualified for the team earlier this month. “Luke has assembled a very strong 12 players, and I think it’s the right 12 players. I’m sure he’s disappointed, but at the same time, I’m sure he wishes Europe well.”

Rory McIlroy doesn’t need to doubt that even a bit, as Garcia himself said that he will be present to cheer for his team outside of the ropes. “Now, the only thing I can do is support the team from home. It’s as simple as that. I’ll be watching and cheering on the European team,” he told GolfMagic.

But Rory McIlroy’s response shouldn’t be seen as just a player’s opinion on his fellow player’s emotions getting the better of him. You see, both the Europeans share a complicated history. They were once inseparable, with McIlory even serving as a groomsmen at Garcia’s wedding. But their friendship soured when Garcia joined LIV Golf in 2022.

How Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy drifted apart

Since the onset of LIV and marquee players like Garcia leaving the PGA and DP World Tour to join the league, McIlroy had been very vocal with his angst. “I think it is the first time in my life that I have felt betrayal, in a way. It’s an unfamiliar feeling to me. You build bonds with these people through Ryder Cups and other things.” This was clearly a jab at Garcia. Then later, during the US Open, the Spaniard sent McIlroy an early-morning text telling him to stop talking about LIV. McIlroy, offended, replied with “a couple of daggers.” Garcia later said that McIlroy was “lacking maturity.”

“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 told The Telegraph.

Although there were flashes of reconciliation. At the 2023 US Open, McIlory’s small gesture of greeting Garcia’s wife prompted the Spaniard to reach out, and both men described their conversation as a first step toward rebuilding trust. But that was short-lived. Months later, when McIlroy floated the idea of LIV becoming golf’s version of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a short, team-based competition, Garcia shot it down. The Spaniard said the LIV players “deserve more than that.”  When asked about those remarks, McIlroy was quite blunt. “Yeah, Sergio feels he deserves a lot of things.”

Any sense of peace quickly gave way to the reality that their friendship may not recover.