Rory McIlroy has regrets about his past comments toward PGA Tour players who left to join LIV Golf when the new circuit started.
Appearing on the Stick to Football podcast (h/t ESPN.com), McIlroy explained he was “a little judgmental” of the players who defected:
“I think at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realize that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods’ position.
“We all turn professional to making a living playing the sports that we do, and I think that’s what I realized over the last two years. I can’t judge people for making that decision.”
When LIV Golf launched in 2022, McIlroy was among the most vocal critics of it. He called players who left “pretty duplicitous” for saying one thing and doing another.
In a July 2022 interview with Kyle Porter of CBS Sports, McIlroy said there’s “no room in the golf world for LIV Golf” and disagreed with what the circuit was doing.
“If LIV went away tomorrow I’d be super happy,” he added.
McIlroy has toned down his rhetoric about LIV Golf over the past year. He admitted to having “mixed emotions” about the merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf, but said it’s probably “good for the game” because “it secures its financial future.”
On the podcast, McIlroy didn’t say he “lost the fight against LIV,” but he “accepted the fact that this is part of our sport now.”
There was a Dec. 31 deadline for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to finalize their merger, but PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a memo to players the parties are working to extend the deadline into the new year.
LIV Golf, which is owned by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, has been the subject of controversy since it launched as another example of the Saudi government’s efforts at sportswashing amid some of its issues with human rights violations and environmental practices.
McIlroy acknowledged it’s virtually impossible to win a financial battle with the Saudis, but he would like to see money being spent on “a grassroots program for The Royal and Ancient Golf Club or the United States Golf Association” that help grow the game of golf instead of throwing hundreds of millions of dollars only to sign players away from the PGA Tour.
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