It is not an easy task to earn the approval of golf giant Rory McIlroy. The star player who has 37 professional wins to his name and is among the biggest names in the sport gives his nod of approval to exceptional golfers only. However, when it comes to LIV Golf, the Irishman has a lot of issues.

But even McIlroy recognizes that the LIV Golf now boasts some very talented players who are gems of golf. And when recently asked if he could place a good golfer besides Tiger Woods, McIlroy surprisingly replied that once a LIV defector’s performance blew him away.

Rory McIlroy showers praise on a LIV defector he once played an event with

These days Rory McIlroy is busy preparing for the Ryder Cup. He is participating in the ongoing BMW PGA Championship. But despite his busy schedule, McIlroy gave a special shout-out to another European fellow Henrik Stenson whose game he thinks is worthy of getting compared to that of Tiger Woods.

Recently McIlroy was a guest on Golf.com’s podcast Subpar where he revealed how impressed he is by Ludvig Aberg, among many other things. When the host asked McIlroy to name a player whose game wows him other than Tiger Woods’, he said: “I would say so I’d say the one that really, like took my breath away was I played and this is this is going back.”

He continues: “And I hit balls beside Henrik Stenson. And he was hitting like eight iron seven arms, whatever it was. And it’s almost like I could feel the strike of his ball and my feet. Like it was ,it was different.” The Irishman adds that this is way back in his amateur days around 2006 when he was playing in the Dubai Desert Classic.

He further acknowledges: “It was just different than I had, I had never felt before seen before. So that was that’s one that sticks out in my mind. It’s just like, really, really impressive.” Despite his deep friendship with Woods, McIlroy gives the credit where it’s due.

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Rory McIlroy could have played Ryder Cup with Henrik Stenson

The friendship of McIlroy and Woods has stood the test of time. Their bond deepened after the two refused to leave the PGA Tour despite lucrative money offers and held the fort for their tour with loyalty. However, at the same time, McIlroy acknowledges the impressive golfing skills of Stenson who has 22 professional wins to his name, which also includes the Tour Championship and the Open Championship.

In fact, Stenson had been named the 2023 European Ryder Cup captain, but his captaincy was later terminated because of his joining the LIV Tour and he was later replaced by Luke Donald. Had Stenson not gone to the Saudi league, then he would be on the Ryder Cup course in Rome leading McIlroy.

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