Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm photo credit USGA/Jeff Haynes
Brooks Koepka spoke Tuesday saying the controversy with the PGA Tour and the emerging feud with the LIV, Saudi-funded new golf league and the players that have left the PGA Tour for the new league is hanging a black cloud over this week’s U.S. Open.
He’s right. It’s been a topic of conversation is almost every pre-tournament interview and the players are getting tired of it. Sitting through the press conferences, I have gone through and pulled out the excerpts of all LIV related questions to give you a chance to get a feel on how the pros are reacting.
I think everyone is excited about Thursday when the tournament starts.
These pieces of the interviews come from Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, and Collin Morikawa.
Justin Thomas
Question: You alluded in a Tweet yesterday to Rory with that 21, and it had a little smiley face, whatever. Curious if you would talk about the situation in your sport right now, and would you ever consider going to LIV Golf, and if the answer is no, would it be because of your loyalty to the PGA TOUR, or would it be because of going into business with someone like Mohammad bin Salman?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I was obviously very happy for Rory and him winning the tournament. I have a lot of respect for him, not only as a golfer but just as a person. I see how hard he works down in Florida, and it had been a little while since we’ve had that battle against each other on a Sunday. I definitely could have written the ending a little bit better if I could have come out on top.
It just was a big week for the TOUR. I tossed and turned and lost a lot of sleep last week thinking about what could potentially happen, and I grew up my entire life wanting to play the PGA TOUR, wanting to break records, make history, play Presidents Cups, play Ryder Cups.
The fact that things like that could potentially get hurt because of some of the people that are leaving, and if more go, it’s just sad. It’s really no other way to say it. It just makes me sad, because like I said, I’ve grown up my entire life wanting to do that, and I don’t want to do anything else.
The people that have gone, like I said, they have the decision that they’re entitled to make. Not necessarily that I agree with it one way or the other, but everything has got a price, I guess.
Question: You and Rory have sort of emerged as leaders in this, whatever you want to call it. The guys who are still deciding, should I go, should I stay, are you making yourself available to them to talk to them, or is this sort of everyone can make their own decision?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I want it to be both. We are all grown-ups. I go back and forth so much on different thoughts and how I feel about it.
I know what I want to happen, but it’s just at the end of the day you don’t know if it is going to happen.
Like I’ve said from the beginning, it’s astronomical money that they’re throwing at people. Everybody has a price for everything. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to do it, if you want to do it. There’s going to be some kind of number that’s going to get people to think about it, and they’re reaching that number with a lot of people.
I just want to be able to basically say my part or what I think about the decision or the PGA TOUR. Selfishly I don’t want anybody to leave. I’ve talked to some of my peers that have asked me questions, and I don’t know probably as much as others, but I’m, like, you’ve got to do what’s best for you or what you think is best for your career.
I’m, like, but selfishly I don’t want you to go. That’s how I kind of end any phrase or any conversation that I’m having with somebody about it, because at the end of the day I’m not their parent, I’m not the person that’s making their decisions. All I can do is plead my case. But everybody out here is a grown-up, they can make their own decisions.
Rory McIlroy
Question: You’ve really emerged as the leader of the pro-PGA TOUR faction. Why have you taken that mantle of leadership?
RORY McILROY: Because in my opinion it’s the right thing to do. The PGA TOUR was created by people and tour players that came before us, the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer.
They created something and worked hard for something, and I hate to see all the players that came before us and all the hard work that they’ve put in just come out to be nothing.
I think one of the other things as well is the PGA TOUR has certainly given me a lot of opportunities, and I’ve benefited a lot from that, but I think what they’ve done for charity. They’ve raised — if you put all the other major sporting organizations in this country — so NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, if you put all their charitable dollars combined, the PGA TOUR has raised twice as much as that in their history.
That is a massive legacy and something that I don’t think people talk enough about, so when you are talking about the TOUR and everything that’s happening right now, you have to see the bigger picture than just the golf, and I think I’ve tried to take a wider view of everything, and I just think it’s the right thing to do.
Question: As you probably are aware, the 9/11 families have sent not one — well, they’ve sent one scathing letter to Phil and four other U.S. players playing in the LIV Tour and then they replied to Phil’s non-answer yesterday with another scathing statement. Obviously, it’s related to the Saudis and the Saudis’ involvement in 9/11. Do you understand the 9/11 families’ point of view?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course I do. I think everything that’s happening with this tour, it legitimatizes their place in the world, and I’m not saying — I’m sure not every Saudi Arabian is a bad person. We’re talking about this in such a generalized way.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the Middle East, and the vast majority of people that I’ve met there are very, very nice people, but there’s bad people everywhere. The bad people that came from that part of the world did some absolutely horrendous things.
Of course, I understand where these families are coming from, and in this day and age everything is just so intertwined, and it’s hard to separate sport from politics from dirty money from clean money. It’s a very convoluted world right now.
I certainly empathize with those families, and I can’t imagine — I have friends that have lost people in 9/11, and it’s a really tragic thing. I empathize with those families, and I certainly understand their concerns and frustrations with it all.
Jon Rahm
Question: For you is that something you have thought about in terms of an alternate league and how would you weigh the value of what the PGA TOUR has done versus what other players are going to do?
JON RAHM: I almost feel — I feel for Jay Monahan. If you see his time as a commissioner, he had to deal with COVID and now this. I don’t know if he signed up for all this or not.
I consider the PGA TOUR has done an amazing job giving us the best platform for us to perform. I do see the appeal that other people see towards the LIV Golf. I do see some of the — I’ll put this delicately — points or arguments they can make towards why they prefer it.
To be honest, part of the format is not really appealing to me. Shotgun three days to me is not a golf tournament, no cut. It’s that simple.
I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years. That’s what I want to see.
Yeah, money is great, but when Kelley and I — this first thing happened, we started talking about it, and we’re like, will our lifestyle change if I got $400 million? No, it will not change one bit.
Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I’ve made and live a very happy life and not play golf again. So, I’ve never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world.
I’ve always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA TOUR has that.
There’s meaning when you win the Memorial Championship. There’s meaning when you win Arnold Palmer’s event at Bay Hill. There’s a meaning when you win, LA, Torrey, some of the historic venues. That to me matters a lot, right.
After winning this past U.S. Open, only me and Tiger have won at Torrey Pines, and it’s a golf course that we like, making putts on the 18th hole. That’s a memory I’m going to have forever that not many people can say.
My heart is with the PGA TOUR. That’s all I can say.
It’s not my business or my character to judge anybody who thinks otherwise. For a lot of people, I’m not going to lie, those next three, four years are worth basically their retirement plan they’re giving them. It’s a very nice compensation to then retire and sail off into the sunset. If that’s what you want, that’s fine.
Brooks Koepka
Question: Why have you decided stay on the PGA TOUR, and is that a permanent decision?
BROOKS KOEPKA: There’s been no other option to this point, so where else are you going to go?
Question: LIV.
BROOKS KOEPKA: As of last week. That’s it. I wasn’t playing last week. I’m here. I’m here at the U.S. Open. I’m ready to play U.S. Open, and I think it kind of sucks, too, you are all throwing this black cloud over the U.S. Open. It’s one of my favorite events. I don’t know why you guys keep doing that.
The more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it.
Question: Is there a figure at which you would swap tours? Does that exist? Is it as simple as that?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I haven’t given it that much — I haven’t given it that much thought.
Question: Really?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I don’t understand. I’m trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man. I legitimately don’t get it. I’m tired of the conversations. I’m tired of all this stuff.
Like I said, y’all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks. I actually do feel bad for them for once because it’s a shitty situation. We’re here to play, and you are talking about an event that happened last week.
Collin Morikawa
Question: Collin, the LIV question —
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Here we go.
Question: — or a LIV question. Yeah, here we go. I’m sure that you have huge respect for Phil as a player. Have you lost a little bit of respect for him because of what he is doing with LIV and all that sort of stuff?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: No, not at all. Look, everyone has their own position to choose what they want. You’ve heard that from multiple guys out here.
But it doesn’t change who I view Phil as, right? This is someone — obviously I watched Tiger growing up, and Phil was the guy that was right there. He was still an idol for many, many kids my age, right? He is going to continue to be that way.
Look, just how we talked about a year ago about people’s mental state and not feeling well or not feeling happy. We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes of people’s lives, right? You guys see us out here, and you guys can make assumptions about what we do, but in reality, you don’t know what’s going on behind curtains, and that’s for us to respect the lines of what they want to share and what they don’t want to share.
I think these guys have made their decisions. I mean, it is upsetting because — I mean, look, I’ve been out here for three years, and I never would have imagined this is what we would have to deal with three years in as being a professional.
All I dreamt about was playing on the PGA TOUR, making putts to win tournaments, winning majors, and for me it’s just how do I get back to focusing on that. This has been such a big distraction. This has been such a talk where it’s enjoyable to talk about it because we all like gossip, right? We all like the drama.
At the end of the day, that’s what it is. We’re all trying to assume or make assumptions or make guesses about what this or that or who is going or what’s going to happen next. We know just as much as you. We really do.
I really don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but going back to your question as it relates to Phil, I haven’t lost respect because he has done amazing things for this game.
Question: You do know roughly what’s going on. I mean, you’ve read the papers. You’re an intelligent guy.
COLLIN MORIKAWA: But you guys are writing the papers, right?
Question: Well, yeah.
COLLIN MORIKAWA: That’s the thing. One of my best friends said — you know, he just texted me about this tweet from a random account saying, hey, there’s these rumors. No, it’s crazy to see and hear all these rumors because that’s what they are, right? I can read all these things, but everyone tells their kids don’t believe what’s on the internet. That’s what we’re doing. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now.
I understand it’s your guys’ job to get all the details, but at the end of the day I think we’re asking the wrong people.
Compiled by Dennis Miller