McIlroy Surprisingly Goes Easy On Gooch & His Masters Asterisk Quote

2 years ago by Comments Off on McIlroy Surprisingly Goes Easy On Gooch & His Masters Asterisk Quote

Four-time major-winning Rory McIlroy faced the media ahead of this week’s inaugural Cognizant Classic, fielding a variety of questions from within the comfort of the media centre at PGA National at Palm Beach Gardens.

McIlroy faced questions dealing with the present state of his game, his thoughts on whether he thinks this week’s host course has been toned-down since he last teed-up in 2018, the reason why he’s ended his six-year absence to compete this week and quizzed at this point of his career how does he define a successfull along with questions dealing with his pre-Augusta preparations and also his thoughts on his former manager suggesting McIlroy may join LIV.

Rory McIlroy – Left 2024 The Coznigant Classic, Right 2018 Honda Classic

Though there was question that needed to be asked of the current World No. 2 and it was the last of 18 questions asked of of McIlroy with the Northern Irishman approached for his reaction to LIV’s Talor Gooch stating earlier in the week that should McIlroy win the Masters, and the fourth major he still needs to secure to join golf’s elite ‘Grand Slam Club’, it will need an asterisk next to it as a result of multiple LIV Golf players not being eligible to compete at Augusta National.

Gooch’s comments were: “If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his caree grand slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.”

Interestingly, McIlroy did not go for Gooch’s jugular and instead let the 32-year-old American very much off’-the-hook

“As for the asterisk?” said McIlroy. “Look, 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 entire — 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 just agreed with what the interviewer asked.

“At the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invitation and I played with him a few weeks ago in Dubai, and he went down to Australia and won. He was in Oman last week. He has been chasing his tail around the world to get this, play his way into August or show enough form to warrant an invite. I don’t know if the same can be said for Talor”.

As for Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chanlder, and the head of the former ISM management that managed McIlroy for the first years following turning professional, McIlroy was also rather kind when Chubby spoke last week saying that he would not rule out their former client eventually joining the ranks of LIV Golf.

“I think he’s (Chandler) writing a book, so there is that”, said McIlroy. “I spoke to Chubby, might have saw him in the Middle East at the start of the year. Never know. He might know a few things. Who knows”.

It led to a follow-up question and that was whether he felt Chandler suggesting it was just a 10 per cent chance McIlroy would go to LIV, and it that percentage was correct

“Somewhere in the middle maybe. Who knows.”, said a smiling McIlroy

 



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