Rory McIlroy Has Burnt Bridges on Both Ends With Only a Few on His Side but Many on His Back

Rory McIlroy stirred up quite the storm in the last few months. First taking a sharp detour from his earlier stance of criticizing LIV Golfers, the Northern Irish Pro admitted he has been too judgmental. However, that was just the beginning of a slow detour in a totally opposite direction. Admitting that he has changed his tune, McIlroy said he felt it was unnecessary to punish players who defected to LIV Golf.

A curious change indeed. But one that hasn’t found an echo among his peers. Perhaps Rory McIlroy realizes that a deal with PIF is not just inevitable but unavoidable if the Tour wants to survive in the long term. Regardless, his allies have been dwindling pretty fast.

PGA Tour board members disagree with Rory McIlroy

Jordan Spieth, who succeeded McIlroy after his resignation from the Tour Policy Board, was the first to give away the divided stance of the PGA Tour Pros on the thorny matter. Spieth also struck a different chord with McIlroy regarding the deal with PIF. The 30-year-old would prefer a future without the Saudi sovereign fund, and that vision certainly has some backers on the Tour.  Adam Scott, a sitting board member, told Golf Digest, “We don’t need it [a deal with PIF] purely from a financial standpoint.” For Rory McIlroy, though, the necessity to rope in PIF, who has a war chest of $700B, was a no-brainer.

Spieth, however, wasn’t the only board member to be on the opposing side of McIlroy. Speaking a few days later, Justin Thomas, a newly inducted member of the Players Advisory Council, said he would prefer if things came together. However, on LIV Golfers’ unscathed return, the two-time Major winner said, “I would say that there’s a handful of players on LIV that would make the Tour a better place, but I’m definitely not in agreement that they should just be able to come back that easily.”

For players on the Tour, the lingering issue is that those who left and later sued the Tour, should pay some compensation before being inducted again. Thomas and the like, who stayed back and had to meander through a storm, are not willing to forgive and forget that easily. He further added, “I would have a hard time with it, and I think a lot of guys would have a hard time with it, and I’m sure we don’t need to convince you why we would have a hard time with it.” Thomas was right when he said that.

PGA Tour pros would prefer some repercussions

Ricke Fowler, while speaking to the media during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, said, “I’m probably not in the same spot that Rory is. Maybe we started in a similar area, but I think there’s been a little rollercoaster ride on his part  Yeah, as far as decisions to go elsewhere and just welcome [LIV players] back, I don’t think it’s a direct road. They made decisions, and there has to be something for it. Whether how small or big, that’s not up to me.”

Consequences. That’s mostly what everyone wants to see. The opinion regarding the players on the other side is not hard to gauge. They made the choices, and now they can’t ignore the results. If the PGA Tour decides to welcome back players without any punishments, as McIlroy would like them to, the management will alienate a large section of players.

Scottie Scheffler is one of them. The PGA Tour Player of the Year didn’t like the fact that some LIV golfers sued their home circuit after defecting to the PIF-funded league. “I think that if they want a pathway back, that there should be one, but it definitely shouldn’t just be coming back in the first week; they want to come back and play. There should be some sort of caveat to them getting back on our tour.” McIlroy’s comments so far haven’t found any support from any of the Tour players. In fact, Tiger Woods, reportedly, doesn’t agree with the four-time Major winner either. Neither does McIlroy’s Ryder Cup captain.

Has Rory McIlroy’s Ryder Cup captain deserted him?

McIlroy’s first sign of change came in the wake of Jon Rahm’s departure to the breakaway side. The 24-time PGA Tour winner promptly claimed that the DP World Tour might need to change the rules because he couldn’t imagine a Ryder Cup team traveling to Bethpage Black without the Spaniard.

McIlroy also said that he had a conversation with Rahm before the latter joined LIV Golf. Although the 34-year-old had since then walked back on the comments, saying that they didn’t absolutely need Rahm, Luke Donald was quick to point out that he was rather ‘inaccurate’ in saying rules needed to be changed.

“Well, again, Rory’s comment, he was a little inaccurate in terms of changing the rules for Jon to be a part of it because currently, right now, you have to be European and be a member of the DP World Tour.” Donald elaborated further by saying, “Sometimes there are consequences to those decisions. There’s been a lot of talk about the world rankings, and should LIV guys get it? Again, I think sometimes there are consequences to certain decisions, and I think a lot of these guys knew that going into it.”

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