Rory McIlroy has been told that he has been 'chucked under a bus full of money' after the controversial merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
The Northern Irishman was speaking to the media on Wednesday for the first time since the news broke and admitted that he felt he was made to feel like a 'sacrificial lamb,' after defending the PGA Tour against LIV for the better part of two years.
McIlroy became the de-facto face of the PGA Tour and was involved in a number of feuds with LIV defectors like Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson, and LIV head honcho Greg Norman.
READ MORE: Rory McIlroy felt ‘like a sacrificial lamb' after defending PGA Tour before LIV merger
While McIlroy's stance on Saudi money being involved in golf has softened, he still maintains that he 'hates' LIV and wants to see it go away.
The 34-year-old admitted that he wasn't looking forward to facing the media on Wednesday, and many fans and industry experts have expressed their belief that McIlroy was 'thrown under the bus' by the PGA Tour as he has spent more than a year fighting against their new partners.
Sky News' business correspondent Paul Kelso certainly feels this way and had this to say on the situation, "I've rarely seen an athlete as rounded, informed or principled as Rory McIlroy (it's a very small club including Andy Murray) and golf has chucked him under a bus full of money."
Plenty of golf fans agree with Kelso's comments and think McIlroy was 'hung out to dry' by the PGA Tour.
But others have been more critical of McIlroy and believe he should have focused more on his own golfing game than the sport as a whole.
Regardless, McIlroy must get used to the fact that the PGA and LIV will be operating under the same umbrella in the near future.
McIlroy can now turn his attention towards this week's RBC Canadian Open, a tournament which he is bidding to win for the third time in a row.
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