Rory McIlroy SLAMS DOOR SHUT on playing in a Premier Golf League
McIlroy confirms he has no interest in joining a new Premier Golf League...
Rory McIlroy has confirmed he will NOT be competing in a future Premier Golf League.
"The more I've thought about it, the more I don't like it," said McIlroy, speaking ahead of this week's WGC-Mexico Championship. "I would like to be on the right of history."
He added: "The one thing as a professional golfer in my position that I value is the fact that I have autonomy and freedom over everything that I do. I pick and choose, and this is a perfect example. Some guys this week made the choice to not come to Mexico, but if you go and play this other golf league, you're not going to have that choice.
"I read a thing the other day where it said if you take the money they can tell you what to do, so if you don't take the money, they can't tell you what to do. And I think that's my thing, I've never been one for being told what to do, and I like to have that autonomy and freedom over my career, and I feel like I would give that up by going to play this other league.
"For me, I'm out. My position is I'm against it until there may come a day that I can't be against it. If everyone else goes, I might not have a choice, but at this point, yeah, I don't like what they're proposing."
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The decision from McIlroy would appear to put the Premier Golf League's plans in serious jeopardy, given the Northern Irishman's stance in the game as World No.1.
Tiger Woods last week revealed he has been approached by organisers of a new Premier Golf League that is looking to lure players away from the PGA Tour and European Tour.
"My team's aware of it and have delved into the details of it," said Woods.
"There's a lot of information that we're still looking at and whether it's a reality or not.
"Just like all events you're trying to get the top players to play more collectively. It's one of the reasons why we instituted the World Golf Championships (WGCs) because we were only getting together about five times a year - the four majors and The Players - and we wanted to showcase the top players on more than just those occasions.
"This is a natural evolution, whether things like this are going to happen, but ideas like this are going to happen going forward, whether it's now or any other time in the future."
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Two weeks ago, Phil Mickelson admitted to holding talks with Saudi Arabian backers of the new grand-prix style league comprising 18 events.
The British-based World Golf Group is looking to tee off its Premier Golf League in 2022, spanning eight months of the year from January to September with a total prize pot in the region of $240 million (equating to £183 million).
There would be no cuts in the tournaments, and there would be individual and team league formats.
Weekly individual winner would claim $2 million (£1.5 million) of the $10 million (£7.5 million) purse, the overall individual champion will taking home a cool $10 million (£7.5 million) bonus.
There would also be a whopping $40 million (£30 million) team prize fund, with $14 million (£10.7 million) split between a winning four-man team.
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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan outlined his Tour had not been in contact with officials from the Premier Golf League, and that the proposed world golf tour would be going against the Tour's lucrative season-long FedEx Cup.
"The schedule for the Team Golf Concept [Premier Golf League] is designed to directly compete and conflict with the PGA Tour’s FedExCup schedule, and to not conflict with [and would be in addition to] the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship," read Monahan's statement.
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It also stated: "If the Team Golf Concept or another iteration of this structure becomes a reality in 2022 or at any time before or after, our members will have to decide whether they want to continue to be a member of the PGA Tour or play on a new series.
"We understand that Team Golf Concept is focused on securing player commitments first as they have no sponsorship or media offerings or right."
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