Rory McIlroy; If Compelled To Compete In LIV Golf, “I Would Retire”
McIlroy reportedly told Golf Magazine: “If LIV Golf was the last place on Earth to play golf.” “I would retire. That’s how I feel about it.”
Rory McIlroy is weary of talking about LIV Golf, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the PGA Tour’s U-turns, and how the situation left him alone on an island. Yet he keeps making brilliant statements about it all.
Just moments after carding a 6-under par in the Genesis Scottish Open’s opening round, which places him in the top half of the standings, McIlroy faced the assembled media. He took a deep breath, and responded to yet another query regarding the stunning PGA Tour-PIF partnership, which has shaken the golf industry since its shocking announcement six weeks ago.
McIlroy reportedly told Golf Magazine:
“If LIV Golf was the last place on Earth to play golf.” “I would retire. That’s how I feel about it.”
There needs to be more space for errors. In documents made public as part of a congressional inquiry into the circuit-PIF pact, McIlroy was replying to claims that he and Tiger Woods may have been allowed to join the breakaway circuit last summer if they had been provided LIV squads.
When it came to signing with LIV, neither McIlroy nor Woods reportedly came close to doing so. Consequently, that plan was immediately abandoned.
McIlroy spent a significant portion of the previous year training hard on the Tour, frequently mentioning its legacy. The news that the Tour and the PIF had agreed in principle to collaborate and establish a new, joint organization to oversee golf globally came as a massive shock to him, as it did only hours before the rest of the globe.
He acknowledged that the heritage of the Tour could not support the burden of money. After the agreement was made public, McIlroy said,
“It’s hard for me not to sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb.” “I see what’s happened in other sports, I see what’s happened in other businesses, and honestly I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that this is what’s going to happen.”
Famously, or infamously, McIlroy has been stuck at four since 2014 and is embroiled in a nine-year major drought. Royal Liverpool, where the Open will be held the following week, is where he picked up his lone Open Championship victory.
Rory McIlroy has been vying for the top spot; he’s been in the top eight in six of the previous seven majors.
However, he knows better than anybody else on the Tour right now how difficult it is to maintain a significant lead through Sunday’s 18th hole. But at least he’s not talking to LIV Golf when he’s out on the course.
