Rory McIlroy’s LIV reversal is about more than ‘opportunistic’ Jon Rahm
Rory McIlroy’s LIV casting is more than an “opportunistic” John Rahm.
If nothing else, you have to admire Rory McIlroy’s integrity. There are only three days left until the new year, but a new leaf has already sprouted. This is correct. McIlroy’s first words at the start of the 2024 golf season signaled a commitment to a New Year’s resolution that seemed impossible just months ago and a change in tone that no one could have predicted. In Gary Neville’s The Overlap, McIlroy completely reverses his stance on Saudi Arabia’s involvement in professional golf, defending Jon Rahm’s “opportunistic” decision to join LIV Golf and his approach to the Saudi-backed league. I lamented the method. This dog. Since its establishment. For McIlroy, the interview was a guilty pleasure, an opportunity to defend himself at a time when professional golf was biased. But for those of you who have listened to McIlroy over the past 24 months, let me say this: McIlroy has repeatedly and unapologetically attacked the Saudi Gulf intervention on a variety of moral and ethical grounds, going as far as to say that he “hated her”. LIV Golf – His words were as believable as the hostage video. Here are the big hits, with a few edits for clarity.
— “At first I criticized those who went to LIV Golf. “I think it was a mistake on my part because now I realize that not everyone is in my shoes and Tiger Woods,” he said.
– “I have experienced this altruistic attitude for the past two years and I see the world the way I want to see it. In the end, you can say what you want and do what you want, but ultimately you can’t change people’s minds. You don’t let them make decisions based on what you say.
– “I think LIV exposes the flaws in the golf system. I think LIV and the Saudis are asking for millions of dollars to sponsor these events, but you can’t do that. Guaranteed gamer look. “It’s hard to believe the PGA Tour has been this good for so long.”
– “I can’t say we lost the battle with LIV, but now we’ve accepted that it’s part of our sport.”
Is beautiful. This is correct. It is almost unbelievable. If you ignore the context. Context #1: McIlroy has been in public retirement for some time, at least in part to avoid being a target of the split. At the PGA Championship last May, he did not participate in the pre-tournament interview and strictly limited the number of questions asked during the tournament, which began and continues to this day. He politely declined questions about the status of LIV and the PGA Tour. Avoided mines placed by other players and opponents. His podcast interviews and other extracurricular media appearances have dropped significantly, regardless of the context of this article. Perhaps Rory, whose career has been defined by a rare capacity for reflection and self-criticism, found that she was suited to doing these activities away from the limelight. Perhaps his reflection and self-reflection has revealed that his actions over the past 24 months have been disproportionately self-destructive (albeit virtuous). If anything, his distance from golf’s culture wars dramatically reduced his tendency to promote (or disparage) him as a representative of the PGA Tour and made him realize that there was a greater calling in his life than the white ball. The conflict it supports. You have less control. That gives us
Situation #2: McIlroy is no longer in control of his future. For a long time, it appeared that McIlroy, Woods and the rest of the PGA Tour would be responsible for paving the way forward, influencing change and making important decisions. (To some extent, this is still true: PGA Tour player directors retain absolute veto power over all decisions made by tournament directors.) But the events of the past two years have shown that Saudi Arabia’s involvement in golf at all levels is inevitable. Yes. .
