Golfer Tiger Woods’ commitment to supporting the PGA Tour, stripped of several players who chose to join rival organization LIV, has delighted other like-minded big names in his sport, including Rory McIlroy.
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The latter was able to chat with the “Tiger” during a meeting in which many members of the world’s top 20 participated in Delaware earlier this week. Having refused, according to the ESPN network, an offer of $700 to $800 million to evolve within LIV, the American considered it important to travel to discuss important issues in the company of other well-known PGA individuals such as Justin Thomas and Xander Schauele.
And according to McIlroy, whoever was dictating the game during the discussion was easy to identify.
“It was obvious that no matter when we all got together, there was an alpha and it wasn’t me,” McIlroy told USA Today of Woods. He has an impact and it shows how much he cares about the PGA, the players who come here and who will train the next generation of golfers.
“He is the hero that we have all looked up to. The range of his voice is greater than that of anyone else in the sport. Its role is to direct us to where we think we should be,” he added.
Essential asset
Aware that the LIV circuit has succeeded in attracting many athletes such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, McIlroy is therefore crossing his fingers that Woods’ influence will do its work and manage to stop the bleeding. Will his powers of persuasion be enough? According to the Northern Irishman, the 46-year-old’s resume is an incentive to stay in the PGA fold.
“I think he carried the circuit on his shoulders for so long. I think players like us being younger […] took advantage of that. But how can we continue to rely on this in the future? We are going into a different era and we just have to think a little differently,” said McIlroy, 33.