'I gained a friend back,' says Sergio Garcia after rekindling with Rory McIlroy

McIlroy had said in September that his relationship with some of his former Ryder Cup team-mates was damaged by their decision to join the breakaway circuit, and that led to biting remarks being made between the two in public.

However, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV circuit, which had been involved in a bitter fight that split the sport, earlier in June announced an agreement to merge and form one unified commercial entity.

"I think it's great," Garcia said ahead of this week's LIV event at Valderrama.

"In my personal opinion, I wish this would have happened a year and a half ago when we all started, and it would have been better for all of us. I really think so."

The Spaniard said that it was during the recent US Open that he and the Northern Irishman resumed their friendship, which goes way back before they played together on the European Ryder Cup team.

"The US Open was a great event for me," Garcia said. "I finished 27th... I feel like I played well.

"But more than anything, because I gained a friend back, a friend that I kind of felt like I lost in the last year or so."

The 43-year-old revealed their reunion may not have been possible without the support of their wives.

"Angela, and Erica, they said hi to each other at the US Open, and there was a nice text from Rory to (Garcia's wife Angela), and that kind of gave me the incentive to reach out to him," Garcia said.

"I think that at the end of the day, the important thing is that we got together and talked - we were two friends that wanted to get back to that spot. No doubt it was the saddest part of all of this, these friendships turning sour."