the northern irish Rory McIlroy, winner of four ‘majors’, assured this Tuesday that he does not intend to join LIV Golfa new golf league funded by the Saudi Arabian government, noting that players who do so take “the easy way out.”
In a press conference prior to the start of the US Open, of which he was champion in 2011, McIlroy assured that he understands that players like Phil Mickelson, in the final stretch of their careers, join LIV, but he does not share the decision of the younger golfers.
“I don’t understand the decision of players who are a similar age to me (33 years old), because I think my best days are yet to come, and I think it’s like that for the others too. I get the feeling that they’re taking the easier way,” McIlroy said.
He acknowledged that he is “disappointed” by Mickelson’s decision to join the LIV, but stressed that this does not affect the “tremendous respect” he has for it.
He assured that he does not plan to join the LIV because he feels that “it is the right thing” and recalled the great golfers of the past who built the tradition of the PGA Tour.
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“They created and worked hard for something, and I don’t like to see that all the players who came before us worked so hard for nothing.“, said.
The launch of LIV Golf, supported by the Saudi government and whose main incentive is its economic prizes, caused controversy in the United States, including by relatives of victims of September 11, 2001, who see the fact that players Americans accept that money.
“I certainly have empathy for their families (of the 9/11 victims). I have friends who lost loved ones on 9/11 and it’s tragic. I understand their disappointment and frustration over that,” McIlroy said.
He stressed, however, that he has been “in the Middle East for a long time and the vast majority of people are very nice”, although, he said, “there are bad people everywhere and the bad people in that part of the world did absolutely tremendous things “.
