Rory McIlroy, the current no. 1 ranked golfer, weighed in on the new Premiere Golf League that everyone seems to be interested in for one reason, MONEY.
Lots of money from very questionable sources.
Anyways, McIlroy shared his thoughts ahead of the WGC-Mexico Championship and almost put to bed that he won’t be participating.
“The more I’ve thought about it, the more I don’t like it,” McIlroy said.
The issue for McIlroy doesn’t seem to be where the money is coming from, but more that if you’re a member of the PGL, you’re going to be required to play in all 18 events around the world. That, in conjunction with a PGA Tour and European Tour schedule as well as four major championships isn’t exactly ideal.
“The one thing as a professional golfer in my position that I value is the fact that I have autonomy and freedom over everything I do,” McIlroy continued. “This is a perfect example—some guys this week made the choice not to come to Mexico. If you go and play this other golf league, you’re not going to have that choice.”
“I read a thing the other day that said if you take the money, they can tell you what to do, so if you don’t take the money, they can’t tell you what to do. And I think that’s my thing—I’ve never been one for being told what to do, and I’d like to have that autonomy and freedom over my career, and I feel like I would give that up going to play for the other league.”
However, McIlroy did mention that there is one way he would join the PGL.
“For me, I’m out. My position is I’m against it until there may come a day where I can’t be against. If everyone else goes, I might not have a choice. But at this point, I don’t like what they’re proposing.”
So, to sum up, if everyone goes, McIlroy will go, but because this league is going to be pretty selective it doesn’t seem like that is going to happen…yet.
Phil Mickelson, however, appears to be all in and attempting to get others to join him. So far those names include Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Bryson DeChambeau, and Patrick Reed. Matt Kuchar is also “intrigued” by the idea.
“It’s intriguing,” Kuchar said of the PGL. “If you could design a better version of the PGA Tour, it wouldn’t look like the current version. What we have is awesome, [but] I think there’s a lot of hope that the tour moves in a direction that is slightly different moving forward, and guys like Rory have an influence on that direction.”
There’s still one guy who has yet to weigh in, and in my opinion, I can’t see any way he joins this league with the rule being all 18 around the world must be played…Tiger.
There’s also the possibility that the PGA Tour and European Tours will work in conjunction with the major championships through the Official World Golf Rankings to keep players that do join the league out of majors.
Here’s a list of the OWGR board members.
In partnership with reps from the governing bodies who they oppose on distance regulation. pic.twitter.com/sIsLM7r8CU
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) February 20, 2020
So, playing in these 18 events would net the participants no OWGR points and would keep them out of several PGA Tour events because these guys don’t want to play every single week. If this keeps guys out of the Masters, I’m not sure I could see many joining.
What do you think?
