It's been a pretty poor start to the 2024 golf season, as the reverberations of Jon Rahm's defection to LIV before Christmas continue to be felt in the sport. We're six weeks from The Masters, and as the extremely wealthy people who play and govern the sport struggle to find some shared vision for the game going forward, it's clear the majors are all that really matters.
Who plays them and who doesn't remails a big point of debate in the divided sport.
Last week the Masters sent out three special invites to the tournament to Joaquin Niemann, Thorbjørn Olesen and Ryo Hisatsune, none of whom are LIV golfers.
Yesterday, an interview with LIV golfer Talor Gooch circulated across social media, wherein the LIV player said there should be an asterisk beside Rory McIlroy's name should he win the Masters and complete the career Grand Slam with many LIV players (like himself) watching on from home.
It's an absurd point considering McIlroy's disastrous history at Augusta and that Gooch has never finished anywhere higher than T14 in the competition.
The likes of Gooch and Lee Westwood have been sidelined from the Masters because their OWGR points cratered when they left the PGA Tour for LIV.
Rory McIlroy replies to Talor Gooch
McIlroy was asked about Gooch's asterisk remark ahead of tomorrow's opening round of the Cognizant Classic.
In replying, McIlroy managed a rare lawyerly feat of being both entirely diplomatic while utterly eviscerating of his LIV chum. He went out of his way to give Gooch the 'benefit of the doubt' but he also showed polite and total disrespect for his golf game.
He said.
"The Masters is an invitational and they'll invite whoever they think warrants an invite.".
"I think to be fair to Talor, if you read the question and then the answer - it's not as if he just came out with that.
"I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit.
"He basically just agreed with what the interviewer asked but at the same time Joaquin Niemann got an invite.
"I played with Joaquin in Dubai a few weeks ago and he went down to Australia and won
"He was in Oman last week. He's been chasing his tail around the world to try and play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite.
"I don't know if the same can be said for Talor."
Zing.
You can watch the whole clip below.
Rory's response to Talor Gooch. pic.twitter.com/HG7S56v3gk
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) February 28, 2024
McIlroy might be somewhat unaware of Gooch's achievements on the Saudi circuit, where he won the 2023 LIV season points race, which earned him $18 million. Or, more likely, perhaps he doesn't rate the competition
This weekend's LIV event in Jeddah begins Friday.
