Rory McIlroy had quite the finish to his 2021-22 PGA Tour season. After opening his Tour Championship with a triple bogey, he came all the way back to take down world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for his record third FedEx Cup.
Now, he’s in Surrey, England, for the BMW PGA Championship, one of the DP World Tour’s flagship events. Joining him are fellow Tour stars Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick and defending champion Billy Horschel, among others.
However, to the displeasure of many players in the field, 18 members of the LIV Golf Series will also be competing at Wentworth just a few days after their event in Boston wrapped with Dustin Johnson coming out on top thanks to a lengthy eagle putt on the first playoff hole.
“I honestly don’t think that the American guys who haven’t supported the Tour should be here. Abraham Ancer, Talor Gooch. … you’ve never played this tournament, you’ve never supported the DP World Tour,” Horschel said on Tuesday. “Why are you here? You are here for one reason only and that’s to try to get world ranking points because you don’t have it (on LIV Golf).”
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On Wednesday, it was McIlroy’s turn to answer questions from the media and it’s no surprise that several of them centered around the presence of LIV members.
“It is what it is,” he said when asked about his feelings for them in the field. “They are here. They are playing the golf tournament. My opinion is they shouldn’t be here, but again that’s just my opinion. But we are all going to tee it up on the first tee tomorrow, and we are all going to go play 72 holes, which is a novelty for them at this point, and then we’ll go from there.”
When asked if battling with a LIV member down the stretch on Sunday for the win would add additional motivation, McIlroy delivered a dig that we’ve become accustomed to over the past several months.
“I mean, I’ll be trying to win a golf tournament regardless. They are going to be pretty tired on Sunday. It will be the fourth day.”
A few of the players who’ve been busy with their 54-hole, shotgun-start events over the last few months are Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood who McIlroy has shared countless Ryder Cup moments with.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve got much of a relationship with them at the minute,” he said. “But again, if you’re just talking about Ryder Cup, that’s not the future of the Ryder Cup team.”
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