McIlroy says 1st LIV Golf event 'meant nothing'
Rory McIlroy dismissed the significance of last weekend's inaugural LIV Golf event compared to the PGA TOUR's latest stop at the Canadian Open.
"Last week in Canada ... LIV will never have that," McIlroy said on Tuesday, according to Golf Digest's Dan Rapaport. "Last week meant something. What they were doing over there meant nothing."
On Sunday, McIlroy shot a final-round 62 to successfully defend his title in Canada. Tony Finau finished second, and Justin Thomas finished third.
During the same weekend, LIV Golf hosted its inaugural event at Centurion Club outside of London, England. It was a 54-hole, no-cut tournament that ran from Thursday to Saturday. Charl Schwartzel won by one stroke over Hennie Du Plessis.
Back in February, following Bryson DeChambeau's and Dustin Johnson's statements that they would be staying on the PGA TOUR, McIlroy said he believed LIV Golf was "dead in the water."
In recent weeks, both DeChambeau and Johnson ultimately joined LIV Golf. Johnson competed in the event last weekend, and DeChambeau will take part in the second event in Portland.
"I guess I took a lot of players' statements at face value," Rory said on Tuesday when asked about his February comments, according to Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard. "I guess that's what I got wrong."
Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, and Lee Westwood were among the other big names in the field, along with Phil Mickelson. Other players set to join Greg Norman's Saudi-backed league include Patrick Reed and Pat Perez.
McIlroy pointed out that many of the big-name players that joined are over the age of 40.
"I think everyone in this room and they would say to you themselves that their best days are behind them," McIlroy said, according to Golf Monthly.
Players leaving for LIV Golf that are around the same age as McIlroy, 33, is what he doesn't understand.
"I would like to believe that my best days are still ahead of me, and I think theirs are too," he added. "So that's where it feels like they're taking the easy way out."
McIlroy will tee off on Thursday for the first round of the U.S. Open in a group with Hideki Matsuyama and Xander Schauffele at 7:40 a.m. ET at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.