The golf star rejected the idea of doing something “purely for money.”
The Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series has drawn some big names, including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia. Don’t expect Rory McIlroy, the PGA Tour’s No. 8-ranked player and a four-time major winner, to join them anytime soon.
Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Open, McIlroy made his thoughts on the LIV tour very clear.
“I was speaking to a few people yesterday, and one of the comments was, ‘Any decision you make in your life purely for money doesn’t usually end up going the right way,’” he told reporters. “Obviously money is a deciding factor in a lot of things in this world, but if it’s purely for money it never seems to go the way you want it to.”
“I’ve had that before, a couple times in my life,” he added, per Golf Magazine‘s Dylan Dethier.
McIlroy has stopped short of criticizing his fellow golfers who have signed up for the tour, but doesn’t seem to believe that the LIV events will be a major game-changer for the sport.
“I have some very close friends that are playing in this event in London, and I certainly wouldn’t want to stand in their way to, for them to do what they feel is right for themselves,” he said last week. “I certainly—it’s not something that I would do personally. But I certainly understand why some of the guys have went, and it’s something that we are all just going to keep an eye on and see what happens over these next few weeks.”
McIlroy added that he doesn’t “think the field is anything to jump up and down about,” calling the Memorial Tournament last weekend and this weekend’s Canadian Open “proper golf tournaments” and lauding the fields at those events.
The first LIV golf event will take place in London this weekend, going head-to-head with the tournament in Ontario.
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