While Sergio Garcia’s best days on the golf course appear to be behind him, his name still carries enough weight that it was a big deal to see him leave the PGA Tour for the LIV Golf series.
As he prepares to take part in LIV’s event at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club this week, the 11-time PGA Tour and 16-time DP World Tour winner explained why it was a no-brainer to make the move.
“I did it because I think this is the future of golf, because I think that this is a great opportunity, not only to do what I love, which is playing golf, but at the same time be able to spend more time with my family and watch them grow,” said Garcia. “I have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old so it’s nice to watch them grow as much as possible. I’ve been doing this for 24 years, so traveling a lot and stuff, and make a great living out of it.”
So what, exactly, makes LIV the “future of golf?”
“It brings something different to the game that we haven’t had for forever,” explained Garcia. “Pretty much every tournament you play on Tour is the same, so it’s nice to have something that brings different concepts together because you have the individual but at the same time you have the team event and it brings different relationships that you build and things like that and different focuses. For me as a captain and as a LIV Golf player, it’s obviously very exciting.”
There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding why golfers have flocked to LIV despite it being backed by a government that is clearly using the league to “sportswash” its image following myriad human rights violations. While many players have highlighted the style of play and the easy schedule, detractors have pointed to the gobs of money being thrown their way and ignoring the strings that come attached.
