Rory McIlroy has told his friend Ian Poulter he was wrong in taking his home circuit to court to be reinstated in this week’s Scottish Open. guided tours.
poultry, 46, won a ban against the DP World Tour on Monday — formerly the European Tour — to get a temporary reprieve from the week-long suspension he and 16 other pros received for participating in the first $25 million LIV Golf Series event last month.
But while the Englishman was pleased with the verdict on Tuesday, McIlroy expressed his opposition to those who signed multi-million dollar contracts with LIV during the $8 million tournament at the Renaissance Club, which kicks off Thursday at the North Berwick links.
“I think at this stage, if you’ve moved on to play on another tour, go play on that tour,” McIlroy told the BBC. “You basically left all your peers behind to make more money, and that’s fine.
“But stay there. Don’t try to come back and play here again. The whole cake-and-eat-it attitude is where the resentment comes from within PGA Tour and DP World Tour membership. That’s the tricky part.”
Four LIV players join in and the Tour puts them out together: Poulter with Branden Grace, the South African who won the $4 million first prize at the second LIV event in Oregon last week as one two ball; and Spain’s Adrian Adrian Otaegui and another South African in Justin Harding in others. Both pairs will be broadcast for the rest, at 7:15 a.m. from the 10th and the first tee respectively.
‘There are many men who are hypocrites and do not tell the truth’
If, after the verdict was against them, this makes the Tour a point – in their first-ever jointly sanctioned event with the PGA Tour – then American Billy Horschel believes they have every right.
“I think they’ve made their beds,” Horschel said. “They decided to play on that tour and they should play there. They shouldn’t come back to the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour.
“To say that they wanted to support this tour as well, be it DP or PGA Tour, while playing an LIV tour, is completely ridiculous. Those guys have made their bed. They say they want to do that. So just leave us alone.
“They keep talking about how the PGA Tour isn’t listening. I’m really frustrated because there are a lot of guys out there who are hypocrites, who don’t tell the truth and who lie about some things.
“I just can’t stand sitting here and being diplomatic about it.
“The comments they make, comments that (PGA Tour Commissioner) Jay Monahan isn’t listening to us. Jay Monahan and everyone at headquarters work tirelessly for us to reap financial rewards and get every opportunity we have.
“I’m one of the 200+ members of the PGA Tour, so when you shoot on the PGA Tour, you’re not just shooting them. You’re shooting us.”