Rory McIlroy made waves recently when he joined Sky Sports’ Stick to Football podcast. His opinion of LIV Golf and its role in professional golf appeared to change. The Northern Irishman detailed how LIV has pointed out some of the flaws on the PGA Tour and could see the rival league existing into the future; but only for a brief amount of time.
McIlroy drew parallels to the Indian Premier League in cricket, which changes formats for a short period of time.
However, Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia was not a fan of that suggestion, per The Standard.
“I don’t think we want to be important for one month,” Garcia said. “We all deserve more than that.”
Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
If McIlroy had his way, the team format would exist for a month or two each year.
“You have four weeks in May and four weeks in November, and you go and do this team stuff – it’s a bit different, and it’s a different format,” McIlroy said on the podcast. “If they were to do something like that, I think that sounds like fun – you’re at least working within the ecosystem.”
Garcia and many others from LIV believe the Saudi-backed tour is here to stay. The money that PIF has put into the league is for growth and longevity — not to play a couple of times a year.
LIV recently signed Jon Rahm to massive deal worth approximately $550 million, and it was a monumental shift. The Spaniard believes getting Rahm shows LIV Golf is going nowhere.
“It shows we’re here to stay for a long time,” he said. “People were thinking this is going to be two or three years and then gone. You’re seeing guys sign through to the late 2020s and maybe even the 2030s.”
When Rahm signed, a number of Tour players didn’t criticize his choice. Instead, they called out PGA Tour leadership. Viktor Hovland had quite a few words about their “arrogance.”
Many guys who left for LIV before Rahm received a lot of condemnation from McIlroy and other PGA Tour players alike, but the reigning Masters champion didn’t. Garcia had an idea why.
“[Rahm] should probably thank us a little bit for that – we knew, being the first ones, we would take some heat,” Garcia said. “We believed in the product, we believed in how good LIV is, and it can become even better. We just had to ride the wave of criticism, but now people are starting to see the reality of it.”
Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images
It appears that a deal between the Saudi PIF and the PGA Tour is more likely than not.
But as we have been saying, and Garcia clearly agrees, LIV is not going anywhere.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
