Rory McIlroy has taken aim at Phil Mickelson after the latter’s extraordinary sentiment relating to a Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway golf tour. Upon completion of his final round at the Genesis Invitational on Sunday, McIlroy branded Mickelson’s words “naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant”.
In what represented a grim Sunday for the Super Golf League plan, as fronted by Greg Norman but with backing from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, both Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson stated their commitment to the PGA Tour. It is now difficult to see how the Saudi scheme can proceed. McIlroy believes it is “dead in the water”.
“Who’s left? Who’s left to go? I mean, there’s no one,” he said.
“Who else have you got to fill the field? I mean, Greg Norman would have to tee it up to fill the field. Like, I mean seriously, who else is going to do it? I don’t think they could get 48 guys.”
Far more striking, though, was the Northern Irishman’s attitude towards Mickelson. The 51-year-old and reigning US PGA champion had accused the PGA Tour of “obnoxious greed” even before an interview appeared where he addressed the Saudi connection directly.
Mickelson admitted to using the SGL plan as attempted leverage against the PGA Tour. “They execute people over there for being gay,” Mickelson said. “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
McIlroy was distinctly unimpressed. “I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” said McIlroy of Mickelson’s comments. “A lot of words to describe that interaction he had. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”
McIlroy has a long stated commitment to golf’s existing tours, partly through a desire to distance himself from the Saudis. “I knew the way these guys have operated,” he said. “It’s all been smoke and mirrors.
“They’ve created rumours and spread rumours, tried to play one guy off another and said one thing to one manager and said a different thing to another manager ... just sort of created this chaos and confusion around that group.
“Everyone’s questioning everyone else’s motives so they’re just kind of playing everyone off one another. I think it’s nice now that we all can sit down and say, look, we’re all on the same page here.”
Save Mickelson, whose next public utterances will be fascinating.
