LIV Golf star Patrick Reed has made his feelings known on the breakaway league’s decision to make a dramatic format change that Rory McIlroy described as ‘peculiar’
Patrick Reed has a very different view to Rory McIlroy on LIV Golf’s format change(Image: Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Patrick Reed has backed LIV Golf’s decision to make its events 72 holes after staunch critic Rory McIlroy dubbed the move “peculiar.”
The breakaway tour has played 54-hole tournaments since its launch in 2022, and that has been at the heart of the league’s identity — the LIV name was inspired by the Roman numerals for the number 54.
But when the new season tees off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in February, LIV’s events will fall in line with those of its more traditional rivals, with four 18-hole rounds. The decision has received a mixed response from the league’s players and supporters, including Phil Mickelson.
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It has been suggested that LIV has tweaked its format in the hope of boosting its chances of finally receiving Official World Golf Ranking recognition.
McIlroy has opposed LIV since its inception, and he shared his surprise at the news that the Saudi-funded league had abandoned one of its unique selling points.
LIV member Lee Westwood, a former Ryder Cup teammate of McIlroy, responded to the Masters champion’s verdict by saying: “I don’t pay too much attention to what Rory says, really. He’ll change his mind for next week.”
Reed, a founding member of the breakaway league, believes the change is a good move by LIV’s bosses. He said: “I love it. I love it going to 72.
McIlroy believes LIV’s format change is ‘peculiar'(Image: Getty Images)
“For me, I just feel like the more holes you play, the top players are going to kind of rise to the occasion. When you had the three-round tournaments, it turned into a really fast sprint. You knew it was going to be different, but you didn’t think it was going to be that different.
“It just seemed like you had to go out and shoot a ridiculously low number to have a chance to win the golf tournaments.
“Now I feel like it kind of aligns with all the other tours. Now you can go out and kind of really judge how you are in relation to the other players in the world.”
McIlroy, who was the PGA Tour’s de facto spokesman in the aftermath of the LIV breakaway, has made a conscious effort to remove himself from the sport’s politics in recent times, but he made his feelings clear on LIV’s shakeup at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship two weeks ago.
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“I think it’s a peculiar move,” McIlroy said. “I think they could have gotten ranking points with three rounds. I don’t think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back.
“It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments than what we’ve all done. It brings them back into not really being a destructor and sort is of falling more in line with what everyone else does.
“But if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get the ranking points, I guess that’s what they had to do.
“I think what’s hard is you’ve got the LIV guys, and say potentially they get world ranking [points], but because their strength of fields are going to be so weak because a lot of the guys have fallen already in the rankings because they have not had ranking points for so long. I don’t know if the ranking points are really going to benefit them. Yeah, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
