Rory McIlroy makes bombshell admission that LIV Golf has ‘BENEFITED everyone that plays pro golf’
Rory McIlroy makes an explosive admission that LIV Golf has ‘BENEFITED everyone who plays professional golf’, despite being the biggest critic of the Saudi-backed getaway tour.
World No. 3 golfer Rory McIlroy, one of LIV Golf’s most vocal and prominent detractors, admitted that the Saudi-backed tour has benefited professional golf.
in a Press conference Ahead of this weekend’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in North Florida, the Northern Irish golfer addressed the circuit in a different tone than usual.
After making repeated statements in the past against the tour and the individual golfers who have joined it, and even becoming embroiled in a tee-related controversy with them, McIlroy admitted that something good has come from the rise of LIV.
‘I’m not going to sit here and lie; I think the rise of LIV or the rise of a PGA Tour competitor has benefited everyone who plays elite professional golf,” McIlroy said.
“I think when you’ve been the biggest golf league in the biggest market in the world for the last 60 years, there’s not a lot of incentive to innovate.
Rory McIlroy, a prominent critic of LIV Golf, says the getaway tour ‘benefited’ professional golfers
McIlroy made the comments at a news conference ahead of this week’s Players Championship.
Meanwhile, LIV completed its first tournament at the end of February at Mayakoba in Mexico.
“This has sparked a ton of innovation on the PGA Tour and what was quite, I would say, an outdated system is being revamped to try to reflect where we are in the world in the 21st century with the media landscape.
“So yeah, you know, the arrival of LIV has definitely had a massive impact on the game, but I think all professional golfers will benefit from it in the future.”
Since LIV’s inception, the PGA Tour has undergone multiple changes to its salary structure and economic model. It also forced the tour to innovate: look for a global series that was announced at the Travelers Championship, but didn’t come to fruition.
The tour expanded the purses for 13 tournaments this season with an average size of $20 million for each. The PGA Tour also guaranteed a $500,000 minimum salary for rookies, which can be received in advance, and lower-ranked players will earn a $5,000 stipend for each missed cut.
Additionally, the best players have committed to playing at least 20 tournaments per year, which can include all four majors.
This weekend, McIlroy hopes to be back on top of the Players for the first time since 2019 after a close second-place finish at Bay Hill’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Meanwhile, LIV doesn’t play its next event until next week’s LIV Golf Tuscon event in Arizona.