Sergio Garcia has announced that he will be playing on the DP World Tour next season in the hope of returning to the PGA Tour in the future.

It had been expected for some time that Sergio Garcia would leave LIV Golf, but on Thursday he issued a statement on social media confirming that he plans to return to the European circuit in 2027.

Interestingly, Garcia did not mention LIV Golf once in his statement on his plans for next year. He did, however, produce one of the strangest lines from any player who has left the league over the last few weeks.

Garcia claimed: “everything is earned and nothing is given”.

DP World Tour players have every reason to be annoyed with Sergio Garcia’s statement

While the animosity towards those on LIV Golf has faded in recent years, there have undoubtedly been some old wounds that have been opened up again now that several players are heading back to the DP World Tour.

Clearly, some players will help the DP World Tour enormously. It would be huge for the tour to have Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann, and Cam Smith playing regularly next year.

In truth, Garcia is another player that fans want to see. Love him or not, drama follows the 2017 Masters champion around. He makes most of the events he is playing in much more interesting.

However, there was always going to be some resentment from those on the DP World Tour if those coming back from LIV did not show some contrition. LIV’s emergence undoubtedly threatened the future of the DP World Tour.

Gaslighting will not be viewed kindly by many. So Garcia making a point of claiming that everything is earned and nothing is given will not go down well.

LIV 1.0 may be dead, but the gaslighting from its players continues

The 46-year-old was paid an eight-figure fee to sign with LIV. So it is quite something for Garcia to claim that nothing is given.

Garcia’s supporters will perhaps suggest that he earned that signing on fee by being one of the biggest stars of the game over the last three decades.

He is a major champion, and the all-time leading points scorer in the Ryder Cup. So it is a valid claim, in some ways. However, it will undoubtedly be difficult for some players to stomach a statement from Garcia that attempts to show humility.

It is simply a fact that those on LIV have spent the past four years trying to create their own reality.

Garcia’s statement shows that he is the latest to have walked away from the league having completely bought into a version of events that simply did not exist.