It appears that Rory McIlroy’s brief desire for “peace talks” with LIV Golf appears to be dead and buried.
In an interview with CBS’s Kyle Porter that will be released this week, McIlroy was asked to clarify some of his previous comments about the Saudi-backed league. According to a quote released by Porter on Twitter, whatever desire he had to find common ground between it and the PGA Tour is over.
In a long interview today, I asked Rory to clarify some of his LIV comments from earlier this week. Here’s what he said …
“There’s no room in the golf world for LIV Golf. I don’t agree with what LIV is doing. If LIV went away tomorrow I’d be super happy.”
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) July 9, 2022
“There’s no room in the golf world for LIV Golf,” said McIlroy. “I don’t agree with what LIV is doing. If LIV went away tomorrow, I’d be super happy.”
That’s a very different tone than the one McIlroy struck last week when he seemed to express remorse for the “messy” situation between the two tours.
“At the end of the day it will sort itself out,” he said last week. “Everyone has to pivot and change and try to be better and hopefully get to that stage but as you said now it’s messy and all the narrative isn’t good; it’s splitting the game instead of everyone coming together. I think everyone needs to come together a little bit more.”
These most recent comments are more in line with what the four-time major champion has been saying about LIV, which he called a “failed endeavor” before it started, and chastising those who decided to put money ahead of morals by playing for the Saudi-backed league. He then took a shot at LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman after passing him on the PGA Tour wins list. He later reiterated his support for the PGA Tour and lamented the way that LIV Golf money isn’t “earned” in the same way.
So much for diplomacy. We’ll see what else Rory has to say when his interview with Porter is released later this week.
