‘They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour’ - McIlroy addresses life after LIV
Rory McIlroy. Picture: Getty Images
Rory McIlroy says he has a lot of respect for former LIV players Eugenio Chacarra and Patrick Reed as they resume their Race to Dubai battle in Abu Dhabi.
But while he admits that the “arms race” that LIV forced on the global game was good only for players as prize funds soared, he sees the decision by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to pull its support for the rebel tour as a good thing after they tried to “destroy the European Tour.”
Speaking ahead of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Golf Championship, where he lies third in the Race to Dubai, nearly 1000 points behind Chacarra and 329 points behind Reed with two events to go, McIlroy knows that golf is due “a bit of a reset” after the Saudi billions led to a massive, unsustainable increase in prize funds.
Ironically, the ongoing Iran-US war, which has left this week’s field without several star players due to uncertainty over the conflict, likely played a part in the Public Investment Fund’s decision to pull the plug on LIV.
But after DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley said in a recent interview with The Scotsman that the decision to prohibit players who sign for LIV 2.0 from taking out DP World Tour membership in 2027 was totally justified to protect their interests from a tour whose goal was to“destroy the DP World Tour”, McIlroy was fully on board.
“I agree with everything that Guy said,” McIlroy said. “They took players; they took sponsors; they turned professional golf into an arms race.
“They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy The European Tour. Yeah, I agree with everything.”
The Holywood star called the strategy employed by the PIF “shortsighted” given how quickly they changed course and decided to invest their money elsewhere.
“I think for long-term sustainability for men's professional golf, I think we are in a much better spot,” McIlroy said.
Ironically, Race to Dubai leader Chacarra quickly realised LIV was a competitive cul-de-sac and left two years ago to chase Major starts and Ryder Cup glory, while Reed left this year to focus on Europe while serving his PGA Tour ban.
“On LIV, nothing changes,” Chacarra said at the time. “There is only money. It doesn't matter if you finish 30th or first.”
He’s since won four times in Europe, three times this year, and has a chance to deny McIlroy an eighth Race to Dubai.
Like Reed, he’s guaranteed promotion to the PGA Tour and both players have impressed McIlroy.
“I have a lot of respect for them with the way that they have done it,” McIlroy said. “Eugenio has been a great college player, and he obviously made a lot of money early at LIV, and he came back and he's been able to perform and do what's he's done. Excited to play with him the next two days and watch him up close.”
With the winner in Abu Dhabi awarded 1,500 points, and the champion next week in Dubai earning 2,000, McIlroy’s fate is in his hands.
“So even if I don't win (this week) but I still have a strong finish, I'll still feel like I have a very realistic chance of going into next week as well in Dubai,” he said.
“So I guess it's a nice thing that a win would certainly be welcome but not totally necessary. But obviously a win would make life a lot easier.
“So that's obviously the goal. But even a strong finish, just making up some ground would be a good result, as well.”
As for Guy Kinnings’ move to prohibit anyone who signs up for LIV 2.0 from joining the DP World Tour next year, or the rule that makes players like Sergio Garcia ineligible to be Ryder Cup captain because they forfeited their membership at some stage, he recalled how he came close to falling foul of that rule in 2019.
“I was going to give my DP World Tour membership up in 2019, and I had a chat with Keith Pelley at the time, and said, "Look, you know, based in America. I want to focus over there for a bit.’
“And Keith said to me, ‘Totally fine but you do know if you give up your membership or you resign your membership, you can't be a captain or vice captain of the Ryder Cup in the future.’
“And I was like, ‘Well, I'm not going to do that then.’
“… everyone knows that rule, and everyone knows that if you abdicate your membership, that's the consequence.”
In a year when he won the Masters for the second time in a row, McIlroy picked Shane Lowry’s Irish Open win as one of the season's highlights.
“When Shane won the Irish Open, after the struggles they had been through this year, and having played well but not being able to get over the line and getting it done; and then to see him play the way he did in Ireland and finish the job off, win by 11, the whole thing. You know, from someone that's close to him and his friend, but just as a fan of golf, I think that was a big moment in the year.”
Lowry is an absentee this week and it remains to be seen if he’ll play in Dubai,
But with his full card now safe following his Bermuda Championship play-off defeat, Séamus Power will have another chance to win in this week’s World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico and secure an exemption to the end of 2029.
On the LPGA Tour, Lauren Walsh plays the TOTO Japan Classic while on the Ladies European Tour, Anna Foster and Sara Byrne tee it up in the Aramco China Championship at Mission Hills.
On Friday, Gary Hurley, Ronan Mullarney and Niall Kearney will begin their bids to make the top 15 and ties who will be awarded conditional cards after six rounds at the Final Stage of the DP World Tour Qualifying School in Tarragona.
