February 01, 2024 02:36 am | Updated 02:36 am IST – PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.
Rory McIlroy. File.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Rory McIlroy desires golf put again collectively once more as rapidly as doable, saying Tuesday that even profitable one of many PGA Tour’s signature occasions would really feel cheapened as a result of it did not have all the perfect gamers on the planet.
McIlroy additionally mentioned he can be against any type of punishment for gamers who left the tour for the Saudi riches of LIV Golf and needed to return again.
“I think it’s hard to punish people,” McIlroy mentioned on the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “I do not assume there should be a punishment. Obviously, I’ve modified my tune on that as a result of I see the place golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or the rest is dangerous for each events.
“It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game. That’s my opinion of it. So to me, the faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible, I think, is great for golf.”
Pebble Beach has a $20 million purse as a signature event, the same for the individual play of LIV Golf when it begins its third year on Friday in Mexico.
LIV announced Tyrrell Hatton is the latest PGA Tour member to join, having snagged Masters champion Jon Rahm nearly two months ago. McIlroy played in the Ryder Cup with both.
Pebble Beach has 45 of the top 50 in the world — the other five are with LIV Golf, which does not get world ranking points — and is one of eight signature events with $20 million purses.
McIlroy, who previously has played the Pebble Beach tournament only once, was asked if a victory would feel cheapened without players like Rahm and past Pebble Beach winner Dustin Johnson in the field.
“Yeah, I’d like to win here and stand up with a trophy on 18 green and know that I’ve beaten all of the best players in the world,” he mentioned. “So, yeah.”
McIlroy had mentioned he was snug that Rahm wouldn’t be leaving for LIV when the rumors first surfaced. He additionally mentioned he has been speaking to Hatton during the last month after the Englishman began receiving presents.
He mentioned he most lately spoke to Hatton on Sunday and mentioned he “completely understood” what Hatton was considering.
“I’ve talked to him quite a bit about it over the past month. It got to the point where they negotiated and got to a place where he was comfortable with and he has to do what he feels is right for him,” McIlroy mentioned. “So I’m not going to stand in anyone’s way from making money and if what they deem life-changing money.”
The Daily Telegraph reported Hatton acquired a signing payment of fifty million kilos ($63 million), whereas studies on Rahm had been anyplace from $300 million to $500 million.
“I’ve come to the realization I’m not here to change people’s minds,” McIlroy said. “I’m here to just try — especially when I was at the board level — to give them the full picture of where things are at and hopefully where things are going to go. They can do with that information what they want.”
McIlroy was among the many six gamers on the PGA Tour board who had been concerned within the negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s nationwide wealth fund and a personal fairness group comprised primarily of American professional sports activities homeowners. He stepped down from the board in November and Jordan Spieth was chosen to complete the ultimate yr of his time period.
“I just didn’t feel like I could influence things the way I wanted to and I felt like I was just banging my head against the wall and it was time for me to step off and kind of concentrate on my own stuff,” he mentioned.
But he stays within the loop and indicated the PGA Tour was on the verge of approving a take care of Strategic Sports Group, the non-public fairness consortium. He mentioned a vote was delayed twice this week already.
“I feel like this thing could have been over and done with months ago,” McIlroy mentioned. “I think just for all of our sakes that the sooner that we sort of get out of it and we have a path forward, the better.”
