Sergio Garcia Doesn't "Feel Loved" After Defection to LIV Golf Series

After tying for 68th place at the 150th Open at St Andrews in Scotland, former Masters champion Sergio Garcia indicated that he’d be crossing a number of other European golf events off his list — permanently.

One of the more prominent names to quit the PGA Tour to defect to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series, Garcia said he intends to quit the DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, and thus remove himself from future Ryder Cups as a player, vice-captain or captain. Per the 42-year-old Spaniard, he isn’t feeling the love. “I am quite clear about what I am going to do with the European circuit. Probably leave it. Honestly, I want to play where they love me. I like to feel loved and sincerely in the European Tour I don’t feel loved now,” he said.

Garcia, Europe’s all-time leading Ryder Cup points scorer, also said that he enjoyed the crowd at St. Andrews but did not like the four rounds he played at the tournament. Given his stance and decision to defect to the LIV series in place of the PGA Tour, the Open could end up being the final major Garcia plays in his career. That outcome is far from certain, but it is certainly possible.

“I have what I have and I am very happy with it and I want to enjoy it to the fullest. I’ll play less, I’ll be home more. If I don’t play big, then I don’t play them, but honestly I don’t care much either,” he said in part. “I have given more than half of my life to the European Tour and feel that because you make a personal and professional decision and look, once for you, they treat you like that, it’s not worth it. And that I was going to continue on the European Tour. There are things that can be done differently. What they are doing is a shame because the European Tour is going to become the fifth [best] in the world.”

He may end up being correct, but the LIV series has yet to distinguish itself through two events, and none of the upstart tour’s golfers have played exceptionally well while going head-to-head with their former PGA Tour peers. Dustin Johnson, who finished tied for sixth at the Open, has probably been the best LIV golfer to date, but the two-time major winner has not received much elite-level competition from his fellow defectors (including Garcia).