More players jumped than expected at the LIV Golf Invitational Series, but the PGA Tour still kept the ones it needs most. Two of them, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, will play this week at the RBC Canadian Open, where McIlroy is the defending champion. As two of golf’s leading ambassadors and two of modern day great champions, they were asked about the inaugural LIV Golf event in London this week.
Unsurprisingly, they had a lot to say. Thomas went first and focused on the people – some of whom are friends – who played in London for the $ 25 million Saudi Arabian government-funded scholarship this week.
“It’s a shame. I mean, I think a lot of us are – I don’t know if annoyed or tired is the right way. I mean, it’s just one of those things,” said Thomas. “I’ve thought about it a lot and it’s like, look, as if people have the right to choose how they want.
“I don’t like DJ now. I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I’m not going to treat him differently. It’s like he has the right to choose how he wants. I think the day and age we live in now is so bad. that you see it in everything. Sports, politics, whatever it is, it’s like, if you disagree with someone you just feel entitled to, like, hate them and speak badly about them and limiting their decision, when everyone has right to your own opinion, do you know what I mean?
“Like I said, it doesn’t make him a bad person. Now I’m disappointed and I wish he and the others wouldn’t, but that’s their decision. I’ve always said it, it’s how kids can do whatever they want. they want to go, they can go, if they want to stay, they can stay.
“Selfishly, I think and I know that the PGA Tour is the best place to play in the world and it’s just that the decision is theirs and it is what it is, but … I wish it wouldn’t take me away or I wish it didn’t take away the big ones. plots and things that are happening on a Tour that has been around for a long time and is in one of the best places I’ve ever been. It’s just a shame those guys won ‘not be a part of it. “
It’s an extraordinary point of view that JT evolved into as he grew up on Tour, a point of view that takes a lot of humility and a good perspective to get married. Thomas apparently took a few things away from McIlroy’s press conferences, which have been a must see in recent years. Wednesday was again in line with the LIV situation.
“I think my position on this was pretty clear from the start,” said McIlroy. “It’s not something I want to participate in. I certainly understand the guys who went there. I understand what their goals and ambitions are in their life. I’m not, I’m certainly not knocking anyone to go. It’s their life. , it’s their decision, they can live it however they want.
“But for me I want to play on the PGA Tour against the best players in the world. And I think for me, talking to some people yesterday and one of the comments was … any decision you make in your life is purely for money usually not. It ends up going right Obviously money is a deciding factor in a lot of things in this world, but if it’s purely for money it’s not, it never seems, you know, it never seems to go your way. “
Bryson DeChambeau has reportedly received $ 100 million to make the movewhich means that LIV Golf has (reportedly) spent nearly half a billion dollars on DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
“And I’ve had that before a couple of times in my life, and there are other things that are part of it too,” continued McIlroy. “But it’s a weird time in pro golf, and I said that a couple of weeks ago, we’ll just have to see how this season goes and if any other guys decide to go in another direction than the established tours, I guess, and look. what are the … consequences.
“For me right now, I can only speak personally, it’s not something I imagine ever doing. I am happy to play on the PGA Tour and I have a nice schedule that I can choose for myself. I can spend a lot of time at home with my family if I want, you prioritize the majors, and yeah, there’s nothing in my schedule or my life or my earnings or anything that I’d change. “
In a week that wasn’t great on the PGA Tour, that was a welcome change. Two of golf’s most important people for the future of the Tour. It remains to be seen whether this is enough to sustain the Tour as it attempts to weather this storm and remain completely intact, but after several days of shock absorbers, the folks running the Tour they must find solace in those who still have them in their corner.