RORY MCILROY HAS left the door open to further speculation that he could leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf.
McIlroy took a strident position against the big-money Saudi venture, which tempted a host of top names with lavish paydays and disrupted the established order of the PGA and European Tours.
But the world number two – who even claimed last summer that he would “rather retire” than become a LIV rebel – has softened his stance in recent months as Europe Ryder Cup team-mates Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton have made the switch from the PGA Tour.
McIlroy’s former agent Chubby Chandler has claimed the Northern Irishman could make a shock move to LIV Golf – and the four-time major champion did not completely dismiss the idea ahead of the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens.
Chandler had initially said there was a good chance of a potential switch, before revising down to a 10% chance.
Asked at a pre-tournament press conference whether he would put a percentage on him joining LIV Golf, McIlroy replied: “Somewhere in the middle maybe. Who knows?
“I think he’s writing a book, so there is that. I spoke to Chubby, I might have seen him in the Middle East at the start of the year. You never know, he might know a few things.”
McIlroy also dismissed talk of an “asterisk” on any Masters triumph over missing LIV Golf talent and said that patience is needed to solve the PGA-LIV divide.
2023 LIV Golf season champion Talor Gooch this week ripped the Masters as diminished for not having more LIV talent due to the Saudi-backed upstart series not getting world ranking points.
“If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk,” Gooch said in an interview with Australian Golf Digest.
McIlroy said Augusta National will do whatever it takes to ensure the Masters has a world-class field every year.
“The asterisk — look, the Masters is an invitational and they’ll invite whoever they think warrants an invite,” McIlroy said.
He cited the special invitation the Masters issued to LIV’s Joaquin Niemann of Chile, who won last December’s Australian Open and LIV Golf’s 2024 opener at Mexico and played in events at Dubai and Oman.
“He has been chasing his tail around the world to play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know if the same can be said for Talor.”
Nevertheless, McIlroy said he was willing to give the American the benefit of the doubt about his comments.
“I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit,” McIlroy said.
“He just agreed with what the interviewer asked.”
Additional reporting – © AFP 2024
