“Don’t think PGA Tour should drop the hammer”- Rory McIlroy describes complex reaction to LIV Golf defection

It is fitting that on the morning after the LIV Golf announced its first field of players, the de facto PGA Tour spokesman Irish golfer Rory McIlroy sat for a press conference at the Memorial and shared his opinion about players defecting from the PGA Tour to play in the LIV Golf Invitational. The Saudi backed league released its headliners on Tuesday and its inaugural event will take place in London from the 9^th to the 11^th of June with Dustin Johnson headlining.

Other players who will be playing in the Invitational include McIlroy’s long time Ryder Cup teammates Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. McIlroy addresses the media at the Memorial Tournament after a morning nine-hole pro-am round. He did not seem particularly impressed by the list of names announced on Tuesday. “I’d say indifferent is probably the way I’d describe it”.

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“Not something that I would do personally”

He continued, “A couple of surprises in there, I think. But certainly don’t think the field is anything to jump up and down about. Look at the field next week in Canada. Look at the field this week. They are proper golf tournaments.” Those remarks were certainly a reminder that although the LIC Golf Series scored several golfers such as Johnson and Garcia that the bulk of the talent still lies with the PGA Tour.

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McIlroy added that he has very close friends playing in the LIV Golf event, and that he has no interest in standing in their way. “It’s not something that I would do personally. But I certainly understand why some of the guys have gone, and it’s something that we are all just going to keep an eye on and see what happens over these next few weeks,” he added.

Speaking about the backlash that players would face, including a lifetime ban from Tour, McIlroy said, “I certainly don’t think the [PGA Tour] should drop the hammer. Look, they are well within their rights to enforce the rules and regulations that have been set. There’s going to be you know, it’s going to end up being an argument about what those rules and regulations are”.

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