Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau have had a complicated relationship over the years
Bryson DeChambeau made up his mind regarding Rory McIlroy’s invitation(Image: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Bryson DeChambeau seemingly snubbed Rory McIlroy’s indirect invitation to the Irish Open last weekend. The American previously claimed that he’d “love to go play” the event held at one of President Donald Trump’s courses but ultimately chose not to.
Discussing the chance of DeChambeau arriving on Irish soil earlier in the summer, McIlroy said: “Having someone like Bryson at the Irish Open would be great for the tournament, absolutely.”
At the time, the 32-year-old responded to the Northern Irishman’s comments by saying: “I’d love to go play. I love playing internationally and that’s what we do here at LIV. Anywhere I can go to support great golf in a good place, I’m all for. So we’ll see if it fits in and it makes sense for the schedule. That’s really all I have to say.”
However, DeChambeau opted not to attend the tournament for unknown reasons. It is unlikely to be a personal snub at McIlroy, even though the pair were recently scrapping at The Open Championship.
The Masters champion reignited the rivalry after stating DeChambeau was deserving of his two-shot penalty at Royal Birkdale for improving his lie. He added that he was “not particularly fond” of the American and accused him of holding the tournament “hostage” after several arguments with the rules officials, which led to a delay in publishing tee times.
DeChambeau claimed he “hadn’t heard anything” when questioned about McIlroy’s words and likely has more pressing concerns regarding LIV Golf. The 32-year-old’s future in the breakaway league remains uncertain after LIV filed for bankruptcy protection earlier in September.
LIV Golf will now attempt to restructure and keep hold of their top stars after Saudi Arabia withdrew their multibillion-dollar funding of the league. After the Public Investment Fund (PIL) backed out, LIV stated they have found a new investor in BC Partners.
The league reportedly still owes £33million ($45m) to its players, including a whopping £4.2m ($5.7m) to DeChambeau himself. Dustin Johnson (£4.1m), Tyrell Hatton (£2.5m) and Cameron Smith (£3.5m) are all owed money as well.
LIV Golf’s future remains up in the air(Image: Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
When asked about his future with LIV, DeChambeau said: “It has been an interesting ride, that’s for sure, everything we’ve gone through, and the tough moments we’ve had. It’s made us stronger. As much as we are transitioning from LIV 1.0 to LIV 2.0, I have great thoughts about what could happen next year. I wish I could be more upfront about it.
“Ultimately I’m proud of the fact of what we’ve done, the good and some of the bad that we’ve unfortunately had, things that have occurred, I’m going to be real with it, not everything was perfect.
“But for the most part we’ve done a solid job and if there’s one thing I could say, we did something different in the game of golf and I’m proud of that.”
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