Rory McIlroy Calls Initial Judgement Of LIV Players A “Mistake”

Rory McIlroy spoke on the Stick To Football Podcast about how his feelings on LIV Golf and the golf landscape have changed, and how he feels that fighting the changes is not his job.

Uh doesn’t it bother you guys that the Live players were bought question mark uh we’ve got whoa whoa whoa hold on a second on that if if he’s asking us if well they’re just asking each other and us I guess you know asking everybody okay it’s not it’s not a question for

You necessarily I think it’s a question to the group but we’re part of the group right maybe not but I mean to that question does it bother you that the Live players were bought it’s a different structure of the game of golf where where Rory spoke about in in that

First segment that golf had traditionally been set on a meritocracy but if you start to get into the details of that meritocracy the the European tour has had appearance fees for years if you’re paying an appearance fee for a player to come to to your event is that buying that

Player okay maybe it is for having their appearance there does it strengthen the event does it strengthen your relationship does it keep a sponsor perhaps but then after that are they are they starting out the event at 5 under and everyone else is starting at level

Par they still have to go out and perform they still have to hit the high notes to be the to be the star that’s that’s going to get that so from from that standpoint if if it’s a completely different animal where they put together a league and

Said we need these stars and we’re willing to pay for them so from that standpoint I guess the the my answer to that question is for for the context of who live is and it’s not like they they kept it secret from us they flat out said we’re going to pay

Stars a guaranteed amount to be here that’s how we’re going to guarantee that they’re here and I think a lot of people uh chimed in here echoing your comments Manesh says all my favorite sports players are bought uh Michael says what choice did Liv had if they wanted to have an

Immediate impact and have their lead taken seriously Paul says they are pros play for money they are contacted to play for they are contracted to play for live in a sport That’s Not Unusual LC says a professional player accepting the most lucrative deal is the norm in any other

Sport David then says PJ tour players PGA Tour players are not paid to show up they are not bought none of the new that qualified via the Lou promotions tournament are getting a signing bonus they’re just getting the purse money only so this it’s just a fascinating discussion there’s again there’s a lot

Of fasinating discussion what’s the purpose of PGA tour’s pip it’s sort of to take care of what you’re talking about well not only that what about the Signature Events yeah yeah well Rory talked about it the 20 $25 million the sponsor the sponsors the cost for everybody

It’s not sustainable etc etc I mean we can get into it more and I don’t know if this is a path you want to go down but my concern with this is for the sport my concern is that the sport is getting too fractured and the sport is not ginormous

There’s not an unbelievably massive fan base watching all these Sports I know people watching this show oh I watch a lot of the tour events and oh there’s a lot of people watching the Live Events there’s really not a lot of people watching any of the events you know

These events are getting a few million people watching these tourn for you just continue to fracture it out it’s it’s going to be nothing there it’s going to become a problem and then no one’s going to be able to get sponsors you got seven different things going on it’s GNA be a

Problem I don’t think the pie in terms of the people that are consuming it is growing rapidly although they’re trying to make it grow by they’re trying to go younger with who they’re appealing to but what it what happens a lot of times in in the game of golf is

That while the pie is the pie how big your piece of the pie is is what changes from one year to the next what El you got from the people let’s then we’ll get to number two part two uh the signing bonuses are reserved for the name players over noname guys

Don’t get that they only get what they earn I agree G Willis says I agree with Matt that many of us felt that Rory seemed to be a little naive with his position and opinion from the beginning I I mean there an endless supply we we can play part two and then

Come back to this if you’d like but it’s just amazing to me um the emotional attachment both Sid we love that’s why we love our people on both sides they’re just so it matters so much it’s awesome and and to your point where you talked about the fracturing of

The game all of this discussion on every level macro or micro is about trying trying to to bring together the game trying to to ease some of that fracturing uh of the game so in part two of this podcast that Rory maroy was on that’s called stick to football podcast

And I want to make sure that we give full credit because I think they did an excellent job it’s beautifully produced uh it’s got some huge names if you’re a fan of uh the English Premier League and these players had played for various teams along the way also huge names Roy

Keane as I mentioned was Roy’s childhood hero he started the whole podcast with this funny story about asking Roy for his autograph when he was just a kid and Roy blew him off and uh if you get a chance to see the full podcast you’d enjoy that exchange as well so in part

Two again you got professional athletes athletes who played for money contracts the teams that they joined because it was the best contract Etc who they were traded to in some cases Etc and they asked them to start out about what are we talking about in terms of money and

Live I think it’s the guaranteed part of it which is you know guarante how how’s it work what do they do guarantee you an upfront sort of like signing on pay yeah like a contract so okay you go you come and play for live golf for five or six

Years and you have a contract and we’ll pay you whatever it is per year plus then you’re going to compete for this prize money as well so what would the numbers be for that sign n just I just we I mean it depends um I don’t I don’t

Know but I mean you know there’s numbers being tited for John Ram you know upwards of three 4500 million for you know that’s that’s what the numbers are MH yeah so I mean yeah again like you get you get have you turned that down then no I I’ve never had an offer you

Just didn’t welcome the offer didn’t well yeah just didn’t engage just didn’t engage because it’s something that and I think at this point like I’m you know I’ve pretty pretty much set my stall out and did you get that now see a question coming up through your body a bit

Hy but um it’s it’s unbelievable but it is know the numbers are but it’s happen in in everything right like obviously all the stuff that’s happen in football F1 um you know they’re they’re they’re getting into Sport and they you know yeah they’ve getting the World Cup and

2034 what you know so they’re they’re making a huge Splash in the in the entire world of sport and um you know no different than what you know the UAE have done in the past and um yeah and and other countries do you worry that you can just be distracted by that

Instead of going I just want to concentrate absolutely like I’ve I’ve been you know for the last two years I’ve been trying to fight the good fight all this stuff and at this point I’m like well I like I’m not that I’ve wasted I’ve played well the last couple

Of years and I’ve done you know I’m I’m in a good spot but it’s still you know it’s not my job at the end of the day my job is to go out there and try to shoot the lowest score possible feel like you’re losing the fight a little bit now

Because everyone because people like John RAM have gone over people who were actually on your side to start with um yeah so I think I’ve I’ve basically went through the last two years with this like altruistic approach of I’ve sort of looked at the world in the way I’ve

Wanted to see it instead of just sort of you know going through life with not with not like not that I haven’t I’ve accepted reality basically like this is what’s going to happen and you can say what you want and do what you want but at the end of the day

You’re not going to be able to change people’s minds you’re never going to be able to make them to make a decision based on what you say so I don’t have I lost a fight I don’t feel like I’ve lost a fight but I’ve just accepted the fact

That this is part of our sport now and um you wouldn’t have done anything different you you know if this came again it’s not like you’d say well I’m not going to make this stance myself because a lot a lot of the guys are probably going to slip off yeah um seem

Like you’re on your own in it yeah I think at this point it’s like I’m not I I was maybe a little um I was probably judgmental of the guys that went at the start and I think that was a bit of a mistake on my part because I know

Realize not everyone’s in my position or in Tiger’s position and you know you you get this offer and it’s you know what do you do it’s you know we’re all we all turn professional to to make a living playing the sports that we do and um I

Think that’s what I realized over the last two years I can’t judge people for making that decision and um so if I regret anything it was probably being too judgmental at the at the start to me I’m just sick of the the money talk in

In in golf it’s like cu the fans don’t care they just want to watch good golf and and watch people compete against each other and you know they don’t care if you’re making this or this guy’s on 200 Grand a week where it just it doesn’t it doesn’t resonate the do you

Feel stitched up and you said you said it I think you said you felt like a sacrificial lamb because you were the pga’s basically front man fighting this and they weren’t as obviously as vocal as you were you were the main voice fighting this but then they’ve gone and

Got into bed with Liv do you just feel completely deflated and let down by it now no not really so um I met Yasser at the end of last year in 2022 in Dubai and just said look what do you want what is it in golf that you know what do you

What do you want to do um so we had a really good chat and we talked about you know he loves the game and he um you know he he wants to do certain things he thinks the team element in golf can really you know take off and try to

Build franchise value in some of these teams and you know I I I understood some of it so when I got back to America that the start of this year I I was on the board of the PJ tour and I said to the guy like someone’s got to go you know

Talk to this guy so then there was a plan put in place that one of the board members would try to develop a relation ship with him see if we can try to figure something out we can all move forward together so I knew that there was conversations being had but I didn’t

Know that it would happen so quickly and then obviously on June 6th the framework agreement was announced and you know a lot of the players were angered by it because they were completely blindsided by it were you blindsided cuz you’re on the board how could you so I was I so I

Guess I knew it had it was a very intimate group of people that was the commissioner of the PJ tour it was Yasser and it was two board members right the chairman of the board of the PJ tour and Guy and um I knew there was conversations being

Had but I didn’t know you know it went from they might met in uh April and they got this agreement done in June so it it happened very very quickly um and people were just like what what has gone on you know cuz the PJ tour we telling other

Players you know these are the bad guys are coming to take over our tour this and then two months later it’s like oh we’re actually going to do a deal with them and you resigned then didn’t you I resigned at the end of this year but it

Was more to do with um it was just taking up too much of my time I just want to get back to being a golfer and playing golf and trying to you know win those tournaments that I dreamed about winning as as a kid um so that was the

That that was the reason for that but it was also you know I I I hope everyone comes back together and people put their you know because the one thing is you’ve got guys on both sides that don’t want it to happen for for certain reasons the

Live guys don’t really want to come back play the PJ tour because they don’t feel like they’ve been treated very well some of the PJ tour guys don’t want things to come back together because they don’t want to see those other guys it’s so it’s a it’s a really weird so people I

Think at this point need to put their egos and their feelings aside and come back together and we all move forward because that would be what would be the best thing for golf again fascinating comments from Rory maroy the podcast he was on was called is called stick to football it’s

An original series from the overlap and we thank them for doing an excellent job with uh the production so some of the comments from Rory in part two that stuck out stuck out to me and I’m curious we I’ll touch base with dom in a second here and find out what you guys

Are thinking about before we wrap up on this Thursday where he got into the whole thing where he said I’ve been trying to fight the good fight dot dot dot ultimately said it’s not my job which was interesting from that perspective uh when he was asked about

Kind of regrets where he said I was judgmental and that was a little bit of a mistake on my part and then he went on to say I regret being too judgmental and I know that’s getting a lot of play on social media and that I

Saw that last night I also thought that it was particularly pertinent and I thought well observed where Rory spoke about that the fans don’t care about money and I happen to think when we’re talking about professional sports that’s critically important so that for example when you’re talking

About how how much players are playing for in a purse or how much a player did or did not sign for or what they get paid by a sponsor Etc when you’re talking about professional sports how long ago years ago decades ago professional sports money became Monopoly money it had no real

Connection you I can remember back in the days when they used to play the Skins game over Thanksgiving weekend and I remember Jack Nicholas having some big putt that was worth $300 and something thousand and I remember you know there putts that were in those days and at that event these individual

Putts were for like the most worth the most money on one individual putt which is hard to say because you make a putt to win a big b win a prize money which is still higher than that back in the day it would seem like that one that

Birdie someone made in 18 was was worth more than that but I’m talking about in that one particular context and you know Jack throwing his Putter and making the P you know all that I don’t really think that exists anymore I don’t think I don’t think we as fans buy

Into this put’s going to be worth2 million or $5 million or 100 Mill whatever it is it’s Monopoly money so I think whenever the focus starts to be on the money I think we all roll eyes right even when they when they start the conversations of uh so and so

Was signed for this amount of money and everybody gets up in arms it’s too much money for a golfer to be paid what have you your value in the marketplace in any job is the is how much someone’s willing to pay you to do that job that’s your value in the marketplace

It may not be tied to what the average wage is for someone doing doing that job someone’s willing to pay you what they’re willing to pay you would you take it so I thought that was just an interesting observation I just it’s if you’re going to build a campaign

Based upon money that professional athletes are getting paid I think it’s a it’s a shortlived one because I just don’t see how regular fans connect with go no one thank goodness so and so is getting that much money if it’s good for you good his comment

That in Rory’s case he just wants to get back to being a golfer again I thought it was interesting and I thought he did a pretty good job of explaining the why part of that I’m not it it didn’t for me I’m still hungry for more terms of of coming to that

Conclusion I just want to get get back to being a golfer did he feel like he took on too much of a leadership role he spoke I told you the comments about him feeling like he had some regrets of being too judgmental but did he did he feel like

He took on that leadership role did he feel like he was thrust in that leadership role did he feel like he had to be in that leadership role and did he did he was his emotion more so based Bas upon what we heard today that it was a futile effort

Remember in part one we said you really can’t change people’s minds all of that’s interesting all of it’s really interesting it just again I go back to what I asked you guys a segment ago when when you’re talking about Rory seven months ago a year ago a year

And a half ago and listening to the Rory that you heard from today is that the same Rory and let me underscore again and make sure this is crystal clear I’m not judging the Rory you just heard from I’m not pointing out and and saying oh these are inconsistencies with what

Was said before that’s why I asked you guys the question is this a change of heart is this an evolution in some cases I think he he himself would probably Define it in as a resignation to re to this reality that this entity is going to exist you can’t make it

Unexist by expressing your discontent with it we saw many many people do that and they could not overcome the power that comes with the money that is behind it it’s spoke louder than words frankly and then the the comment that Rory made at the end about bringing the

Game back together when he when he said he’s talking about players and he’s quoting need to put their egos aside and come back together close quote again think about what I just said and think about who just said that it’s quite fascinating I’m sure there’s going to be

Some people as Dom noted were said no I’m all done hard pass blah blah blah what have you U I think the game will be in a better place if the game finds a way to come back together and I think part of that has to be a learning process a

Realization a revelation in some cases a resignation to realize that we do not have to love we do not have to approve of all of the elements and I’d like to know what sport you do where you know all of the owners and you know all the

People behind the scenes and you just think everything is exactly the way you’d like to see it I’m not being naive I’m not saying that that will necessarily be the case but what I am saying is that the game together is a lot better than the game split apart