After remaining steadfast in his backing of the PGA Tour against LIV Golf in the past month, Rory McIlroy made headlines earlier this week with comments concerning the need for peace talks.
On Saturday, McIlroy felt compelled to further clarify himself during an interview with Kyle Porter of CBS Sports.
Four days prior, McIlroy told BBC Sport Northern Ireland he believed the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf needed to come together to resolve their “messy” situation, signaling a possible shift in his stance against the upstart tour. When presented with an opportunity to further clarify his remarks, however, McIlroy said Saturday that he remains opposed to LIV Golf and the league’s place in the sport.
“There’s no room in the golf world for LIV Golf,” McIlroy told Porter. “I don’t agree with what LIV is doing. If LIV went away tomorrow I’d be super happy.”
McIlroy’s scathing critique of the Saudi-backed series countered his previous comments from Tuesday when he appeared to advocate for a two-league solution.
“I think that needs to happen,” he said, per Independent.ie. “Look, there’s so much chat about where the money’s coming from and Saudi and everything else, look, they sponsor so many other things and they’re all over sport.
"Aramco are big sponsors of Formula One, the Aramco Ladies Series in golf, which has actually been really good for the ladies in terms of big prize funds and so on, so I understand people's reservations with everything.
“But at the same time, if these people are serious about investing billions of dollars into golf, I think ultimately that’s a good thing.”
Saturday’s report adds to a growing list of strong comments offered by McIlroy in the past month.
On June 8, the 33-year-old cited money as possible motivation for those who sought to defect to LIV Golf.
On June 22, McIlroy blasted Brooks Koepka and other players who joined for the rival tour in recent months after Koepka opted to compete at the LIV Golf Series Tournament in Portland. McIlroy told reporters his comments were in response to Koepka previously saying there was “no other option” when asked whether he would commit to the PGA Tour.
“Am I surprised? Yes, because of what he said previously,” he said during a news conference. “I think that’s why I’m surprised at a lot of these guys because they say one thing and then they do another, and I don’t understand that and I don’t know if that’s for legal reasons … But it’s pretty duplicitous on their part to say one thing and then do another thing.”
McIlroy, a member of the PGA Tour’s policy board, was also vocal in his support of PGA commissioner Jay Monahan’s decision in early June to suspend current and former members playing on the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
“Jay’s been pretty transparent in terms of he’s just going to act within the tournament regulations and the rules that are set for a PGA Tour member,” he said. “All he’s doing is basically going by the book.”
