Rory McIlroy said he will no longer speak up about LIV Golf as he bids to end his nine-year Major drought at the US PGA this week.
As a member of the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council, the Ulsterman became the leading critic of the Saudi-backed breakaway league which started in June last year. He serves on the PGA Tour.
The four-time Major winner still finished in the top eight in all four Majors last year, lifted the FedEx Cup and returned to world No.1.
But his latest bid to complete his career Grand Slam ended in a missed cut at the Masters and he is 10-over par for his last eight stroke play rounds.
Before teeing up at his 15th US PGA at Oak Hill, subdued McIlroy was asked before the first anniversary of LIV Golf to look into his “crystal ball” and say where the professional game will be in three years: “I don't have a crystal ball,” he replied. Then asked if it was going to be his strategy to now avoid talking about golf politics, he added: “Yeah."
McIlroy skipped the RBC Heritage the week after the Masters to get over his latest Augusta heartache- a decision which cost him $3m in PIP money: “Golf is golf, and it happens and you're going to have bad days,” he said. “It wasn't really the performance of Augusta that's hard to get over, it's the mental aspect and the deflation of it and sort of trying to get your mind in the right place to start going forward again, I guess.
"I think I'm close. I think I've made some good strides even from Quail Hollow a couple weeks ago. I'm seeing some better things, better start lines, certainly just some better golf shots. A little more sure of where I'm going to start the ball and sort of a more consistent shot pattern. But yeah, look, we'll get out there and see and play. I expect to go out there, and if I can execute the way that I feel like I can, then I still believe that I'm one of the best players in the world and I can produce good golf to have a chance of winning this week.”
McIlroy’s last Major came at the USPGA in August 2014 before the Major was switched to May. The Ulsterman, who is looking for form, called the change a “double-edged sword”. He explained: “If you're in really good form it means you're coming in and you've got four opportunities sort of back-to-back.”
McIlroy’s 2014 win in Valhalla concluded a golden summer of three bigs wins starting at the Open. “I find being that way pretty exhausting in life in general, to be that ruthless,” he said. “It's not as if I can't get into that mode, but I don't feel like I need to be that way to be successful on the golf course.”
Asked what now defines success and failure, he added: “Like if I don't win another tournament for the rest of my career, I still see my career as a success. I still stand up here as a successful person in my eyes. That's what defines that.”
