Rory McIlroy has again questioned the sporting validity of the rebellious LIV Golf Series two days after he struck Greg Norman immediately after his Canadian Open win.
The first event of the LIV programme, funded by Saudi Arabia and spearheaded by Norman, took place in Hertfordshire last week. The build-up to the US Open, which begins Thursday in Brookline, has been dominated by chatter about this grand disruption plan. McIlroy remains a staunch supporter of the existing ecosystem.
“That’s the cloud that’s hanging over golf right now, isn’t it?” he said. “We’re at a big championship and it’s what everyone wants to talk about, so it’s on everyone’s lips.
“These Sunday crowds in Canada LIV will never have that. It’s never going to have that feeling of, I don’t know what the word is, but last week meant something. What they’re doing over there doesn’t really mean anything other than raising a lot of money.”
McIlroy then noted the “competitive integrity” of seeing Justin Thomas and Tony Finau in Toronto. McIlroy has been careful not to castigate his peers, including Phil Mickelson, who were suspended from the PGA Tour after accepting LIV’s lucrative offers, but he remains clearly unfazed by their choice. “My dad said to me a long time ago, if you made your bed, you lay in it and they made their bed,” McIlroy said. “It’s their decision and they have to live with it.”
Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau swore allegiance to the PGA Tour earlier this year before making a U-turn and signing with LIV. McIlroy had claimed that the runaway looked “dead in the water” at the point of the original position. “I took a lot of what players said at face value,” he said. “I think that’s what I misunderstood.
Brooks Koepka has been linked with LIV Golf but said he was “tired of talking” about it. Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images“They had people who were committed to the PGA Tour and those are the statements that came out. People went back to it, so I guess I took it at face value. I took her at her word and I was wrong.”
McIlroy’s expansive approach contrasted with Brooks Koepka’s. The two-time US Open champion, whose brother Chase is in the LIV contingent, was nervous when asked if there was a number that would be enough to persuade him to LIV.
“I didn’t think about it that much,” Koepka said. “I’m trying to focus on the US Open. I legitimately don’t understand. I’m tired of the conversations. I’m sick of all this stuff.
“They are all throwing a black cloud at the US Open. I think that sucks. I feel really bad for her [the United States Golf Association] for once because it’s a shitty situation. We’re here to play and you’re talking about an event that happened last week.”
In a letter to members, DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley has promised to provide a formal position on LIV participation next Thursday. Pelley said: “During discussions last week and through additional private correspondence, a number of members have asked me why we are simply not tracking what the PGA Tour has been doing and suspending these players immediately.
“While I understand the frustration, I remind you all that while we work closely with the PGA Tour, we are different organizations and therefore our rules and regulations are different as well.
“From much of your messaging and my conversations, I know that many of you share the same point of view expressed by Jay Monahan in his note to PGA Tour members, which is that the players who have taken this route are the big ones Majority of members have disregarded this tour.
“What we’re going to do, we’re still evaluating an overall procedure because of the complexity of our situation.”