Mark SchlabachRead 3 minutes
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — No one is a bigger fan of the PGA Tour than Rory McIlroy in his battle with the LIV Golf League.
But four-time major champion McIlroy appears to be done talking about LIV Golf.
At a news conference Tuesday ahead of this week’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, McIlroy was asked by a reporter to look into the crystal ball where professional men’s golf will take place in three years.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” McIlroy said.
“Don’t you want to guess?” the reporter asked McIlroy.
“No,” McIlroy said.
Later, another reporter asked McIlroy whether it would be prudent to step aside from the LIV Golf-PGA Tour narrative going forward.
“Yeah,” McIlroy said.
After missing out on the Masters, the tournament McIlroy must win to complete his career Grand Slam, next week’s RBC Heritage is skipped in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was the second time he missed a designated event this season; He did not play in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January.
Under the PGA Tour’s new guidelines, a player is only allowed to skip one event. The result of losing a second tournament is that a player loses 25% of their Player Impact Program bonus.
Two weeks ago, before the Wells Fargo Championship, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed that McIlroy, who finished second to Tiger Woods in PIP last season, would forfeit $3 million of his $12 million bonus.
“When we committed to this program with the Player Impact Program, we adjusted for an opt-out,” Monahan said. “Then for any second opt-out, unless there’s a medical issue, you lose 25 percent. It’s pretty cut and dry by that standard.”
Monahan didn’t seem too cut and dry for McIlroy when asked about skipping the RBC legacy the day before she met with reporters at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I had my reasons for not playing Hilton Head,” McIlroy said. “I explained those to Jay and if he thinks that’s enough to warrant…you know, look, again, I understand the consequences before I make the decision, so whatever happens happens.”
On Tuesday, the No. 3-ranked player in the world said that McIlroy was trying to overcome the disappointment of not making the weekend at the Augusta National Golf Club.
“Golf is golf, and it happens and you have bad days,” McIlroy said. “It wasn’t really the Augustan performance that was hard to beat, it was the mental aspect and the breakdown of it and trying to get your mind in the right place to go forward again, I guess.”
McIlroy is making his 47th appearance at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quill Hollow, where he has won three times previously. He hit three of his final five holes into the water and finished 19 shots behind winner Wyndham Clark.
“I think I’m close,” McIlroy said. “I think I made some good strides even from Quail Hollow two weeks ago. I’m seeing some better things, better first lines, [and] Certainly some better golf shots. A little more sure of where to start the ball and a more consistent shot pattern.
McIlroy will end a nearly eight-year drought without a major championship win this week at Oak Hill. He finally won the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
McIlroy is a member of Oak Hill Country Club, and his wife, Erica, grew up in Rochester.
“You always have your ups and downs in the game,” McIlroy said. “I’ve got to go out there and just hit good shots and respect the golf course and play the golf course the right way. But no, there’s nothing drastic that I need to change. I’ve been working a little bit on my swing the last couple of weeks, trying to get that back as best as I know I can.” If I can do it, I should be fine.