Sir Nick Faldo has ridiculed Sergio Garcia for claiming Rory McIlroy ‘lacks maturity’ as he called the Spaniard ‘the most immature player I have ever seen’.
Garcia made the comments in an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport here at the Mayakoba resort where the 2017 Masters champion took part in the first LIV Golf event of the year.
When asked what he thought of McIlroy – who had been one of his closest in-game friends and acted as Garcia’s best man at his wedding – cutting off the relationship after that the duo had rowed via text message about the latter joining the Saudi-funded circuit, Garcia was brutally candid.
“I think it’s very sad,” Garcia said. “We’ve done so much together and had so many experiences together that for him to throw this away just because I decided to go on a different tour, well, that doesn’t sound very mature; immature, really.
The golf world was quick to see the irony in this statement, especially Faldo, who is Europe’s most successful golfer with six majors. “Now that’s rich coming from the most immature player I’ve ever seen!” he posted on social media.
It must be said that Garcia and Faldo have a history. In the 2008 Ryder Cup, Garcia – who since that loss at Kentucky has become the leading points scorer in biennial dusting history – won just half a point and Faldo, the captain this year- there, later said live on television that Garcia had been “useless”.
“Half a point, bad attitude,” Faldo said. “He’s always been labeled as the man who brings emotion and passion. We didn’t have him that week.
After hearing the criticism, Garcia said, “There’s a lot I could say about Nick Faldo, but I’m not going to lower myself to his level.”
To be fair to Faldo, he was far from the only one to reference Garcia’s past behavior. During his garlanded, but also controversial career, Garcia has been chastised for – among other things – throwing a shoe at a rules official, spitting in a cup and damaging greens internationally with his putter.
McIlroy has always defended his former Ryder Cup partner and underlined the bond the pair felt when he admitted to crying when Garcia finally broke his major Augusta drought six years ago. “It was a spooky moment,” the Northern Irishman said at the time. But although Garcia has indicated he would be open to talking and trying to reconcile, that now seems highly unlikely.
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