“Should he stay or should he go”? It is worth paraphrasing the Clash to describe Sergio Garcia’s response to Tiger Woods. The subject of the dispute is called Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf of which Tiger (and previously the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy) asked for the head.
Greg Norman has to go the exact words of Woods in the press conference. Does Monahan have to stay or go? the targeted replica of the Spanish relaunched in the Iberian newspaper Marca. To stay or stay? The non-rhetorical question is directed at Jay Monahan, CEO of the PGA Tour, the most important circuit in the world.
Jay was the master of golf before the advent of the Arab Super League financed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF and directed by Greg the White Shark Norman. Today between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf there is war with no exclusion of dollars, stamped papers and threats.
Sergio Garcia, a pillar of world golf for decades and now one of the big names who have passed to the SuperLega, pulls grist to his mill. “It is too easy to tell only those on the other side to leave, as if they and only they were the bad guys.
Should Monahan stay or go? Have those on your side done only the right things?” Sergio wonders. The reasoning is simple: “The situation is now difficult because there is also a trial involved and because (from the PGA, ed) they prohibit everything we ask.
It is difficult – he continues – to find an agreement at the table with someone who rejects all your proposals. Only what they say is fine… I don’t know how we can reach an understanding” As known, the PGA Tour (followed closely by the European circuit DP World Tour) banned its races in 2022 to anyone who plays even once with the SuperLega.
In 2023, our thoughts immediately turn to the first Major of the year, the Augusta Masters. “I haven’t had news from Augusta yet – says the Spaniard – and this is already good news. The Masters is built on tradition and tradition is to have every Augusta winner on the field.
If I’m not mistaken, six Green Jackets play on LIV Golf (Johnson, Reed, Schwartzel, Mickelson, Watson and, of course, Garcia ed). We all have a chance to win again in Georgia. Leaving us out would be something never seen before, too strong a twist for Augusta ”.
Last lunge on the Ryder Cup in Rome, the first after years without Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard knows very well that he cannot qualify on the field for the “Marco Simone” since he has not played the minimum number of matches required by the Tour.
“At this point however – the Spaniard confides – I don’t know if I want to be part of the European team. There are three or four players who are angry with me, they would look at me wrong in the locker room and wouldn’t want me with them.”
All that remains for Garcia is to hope for yet another wild card should he return to the ban from Ryder. “What do I bring to the team? I’m a Ryder Cup player, a guy who loves it and puts his arm around my teammates to help them.
But if your teammates consider you a bad guy because you chose to play on another circuit, what can I do? Jon Rahm is certainly not one of them but there are others who have shown that they do not know what class is”.
