‘You knew what you had to do’ Rory McIlroy fires shots at LIV Golf players as he goes for gold at the Olympics in Paris.
Rory McIlroy has reignited a LIV Golf war on the eve of this week’s Olympic Golf Tournament at Le Golf National in Paris.
McIlroy, 35, had appeared to soften his criticism of all things LIV Golf in recent months.
But he went back in hard again on Tuesday.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy was asked for his thoughts on the qualifying criteria as it currently stands for the Olympic Golf Tournament.
Golf qualification for the Olympic Games is currently limited to 60 players through the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
The top 15 players on the OWGR are eligible for the Olympics, up to a maximum of four golfers from a single country.
Team USA are the only nation to have four representatives this week in Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark.
After the top 15, the Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) consist of up to the top two eligible players per country, as long as that country does not already have at least two players in the top 15.
As a result of the current system heavily rewarding the top 15 on the OWGR, it means a number of LIV Golf stars such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton have all missed out on competing at the 2024 Olympic Games.
LIV Golf tournaments remain shut out of receiving OWGR points, and so their players can only pick up points via the majors or in DP World Tour or Asian Tour events.
While LIV Golf superstar and latest winner Jon Rahm is in the field, the Spaniard told the media earlier the International Golf Federation needs to make changes to the qualification criteria and even the format of the tournament.
But the rules and the rules and McIlroy believes the LIV Golf players that have missed out on competing for their nations this week only have themselves to blame.
Scroll below for McIlroy’s brutal response…
McIlroy had a brutal response for LIV Golf players
McIlroy had a brutal response for LIV Golf players
McIlroy, who will represent Ireland alongside Shane Lowry this week, told reporters in Paris:
“I mean, I don’t think there’s any other way to do it because it’s hard to compare the golf that they play to the golf that we play. That’s the reason they didn’t get World Ranking points, right?
“So if you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do. Just like if you wanted to qualify for the Ryder Cup, you knew what you had to do.
“They were very aware of the decision they made when they did.”
McIlroy’s comments have not gone down particularly well with LIV Golf fans on social media ahead of the Olympics.
Leave a Reply