Daughter Poppy was getting the blame for passing it to her father. But the bug that dotted Rory McIlroy’s press conference on the eve of the BMW PGA Championship with occasional coughs and spluttering didn’t stop the four-time major champion from being his usual thought-provoking self. Three days removed from a disappointing 72nd-hole loss to Rasmus Hojgaard at the Irish Open, the “bit wheezy” McIlroy weighed in a variety of topics.
“I’m glad for the opportunity to get back on the horse again,” he said of that recent loss in his homeland. “There may be a misconception that it hit me harder than it maybe did. I didn’t really feel like I necessarily lost the tournament. I felt like Rasmus went out and won it. Shot 31 on the back nine. So yeah, I shouldn’t have missed the green right on 15 and misjudged the first putt on 17. But looking back on Sunday and the support of the crowds and that scene on 18 and everything, it was amazing to be a part of it all.”
With that out of the way, McIlroy was inevitably quizzed on the latest developments (or lack thereof) in the seemingly never-ending PGA Tour/PIF negotiations. Asked for what he felt was holding back a resolution, the Northern Irishman identified the U.S. Department of Justice and the wide range of views prevalent on both the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf League.
“I’d say maybe half the players on LIV want the deal to get done; half probably don’t,” he said. “I’d say it’s probably similar on the PGA Tour. Everyone’s looking out for themselves and their best interests. It would benefit some people for a deal not to get done, but it would obviously benefit some people for a deal to get done.
“When you have a members-run organisation, it complicates things a little bit, especially when players are having to make decisions on the business side of things. The tours want it to happen. The investors certainly want it to happen because they can see the benefit for themselves.”
Still, amidst that apparent maze of opinions, wants and needs, McIlroy was hopeful that an end might just be in sight.
“It seems like the people that are really making the decisions are all rowing in the same direction, which is a really good thing,” he said. “That still doesn’t mean a deal may get done because it’s just a very complicated set of circumstances. But yeah, from what I hear, there’s optimism there, and that’s good to see.”
Rory McIlroy reacts to a shot during the Wednesday Pro-Am at the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s flagship event – Warren Little
Complicated but straightforward might also be the verdict when it comes to McIlroy’s thoughts on Jon Rahm and whether he should he be allowed to play in the Ryder Cup. Asked if he could conceive of a European team without the former U.S. Open and Masters champion, McIlroy played, in cricket parlance, a straight bat. As if reading from a DP World Tour rulebook, he cited the applicable regulations.
“He could be injured; his game could go off,” he said. “But the way he’s playing right now and the way he’s played since he turned pro, Jon is a wonderful addition to the European Team. From my understanding, he is following the rules.
“He appealed the decision [to fine and suspended him for playing in LIV events opposite DP World Tour events] so that makes him eligible, as long as he plays his minimum number of events. I wouldn’t expect a member of the tour to not know what the rules are to be able to play a Ryder Cup and be eligible. And as long as you meet that criteria, then you’re OK to play.”
Not finished with the Ryder Cup theme—it never really goes away for the U.K. media—another LIV player, Ian Poulter, provided the next question winging its way towards McIlroy. Earlier this week, the Englishman revealed his hope that he might still be a Ryder Cup captain sometime in the future.
That isn’t going to happen, of course. DP World Tour regulations (them again!) state that, to be eligible for the captaincy, a player must be a tour member.
So, as things stand, Poulter will never lead the Old World in the biennial contest with the United States. But, angling for an angle, the media posed the question to McIlroy: Would you have any objections to being captained by Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood or whoever else?
“It’s such a grey area,” he said. “There’s some that I would be OK with and others I wouldn’t be OK with. I think it’s hard because we don’t really see them anymore. You need someone around that’s comfortable. Look at what Luke [Donald] has done. He’s really made an effort to come over. He played in the Czech Republic. He was in Switzerland. He’s making an effort to be around the up-and-comers that haven’t had a chance yet to be on a team.
“With the guys that left like Poulter and Westwood, how can these young up and comers build a rapport with them when they are never here? You can’t see them. I think that’s a really important part of a Ryder Cup and a Ryder Cup captaincy. I’m not saying that Poulter doesn’t have the credentials to be a Ryder Cup captain. But with the current state of where everything is, you need someone that’s around and showing their face as much as they can. Right now, that honestly just can’t be them because they are elsewhere.”
There was just time for one last potential curveball. And again, McIlroy made his feelings clear. While there might be benefits to the DP World Tour breaking from any connection with the PGA Tour and in turn benefiting from the possibility of Saudi money, that isn’t necessarily the end result he would prefer to see.
“If things don’t materialise with the PGA Tour, it would maybe bring the European Tour back to like the ’80s and ’90s when there was like really two strong tours,” he said. “But it keeps the game divided, and I don’t like that. I really want the game to come back together. It would be Plan B. It would be maybe an alternative to the best solution.
“Selfishly, as a European, it would be wonderful to get that investment and to use that money in the right way for this tour. But it still keeps the game divided, which I just can’t quite get on board with. I’d love to see everything and everyone come back together.”
And with one last cough, he was gone.
Main Image: Ross Kinnaird
