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The Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy, known for his outspoken assertions, has vowed to retire from the sport instead of playing for LIV Golf, on the sidelines of the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick on July 14, Friday. This new professional golf tour, established in 2021, is a direct rival to the PGA Tour, which has been in existence for the better part of the last 100 years.
LIV Golf is backed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, which has been looked upon by many as an exercise from the monarchy to improve their image among the public through sports. Throughout its long history, the Saudis have been criticised heavily by the human rights groups for abusing its own citizens.
Notably, while speaking to Golf Digest, a generalist golf publication, during the Scottish Open, Rory McIlroy was quoted as saying, “If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth, I would retire. That’s how I feel about it. Seriously.”
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Then, Rory McIlory talked at length about the confusing state of golf as a sport, with the PGA Tour and LIV Golf vying for supremacy. He said, “I’ll be just fine. As long as I get to play golf, I’m happy, although I have quite a bit of apathy to everything at the minute. I didn’t watch the senate hearings. I saw a little bit of it, I guess. There wasn’t a lot of new information in there for me. But there maybe was for other people. I’ve almost been too close to it all over the last year and a bit. So it’s nice to be able to distance myself from it a bit.”
Rory McIlory leads the Scottish Open in North Berwick after the first two rounds
The four-time major champion on the PGA Tour, Rory McIlory leads the Scottish Open after the first two rounds, carding a solid -10. Behind him, in tied second place is the Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, who carded -9, alongside the South Koreans Tom Kim and Byeon Hun An, at the Renaissance Club on July 14, Friday.
