Rory McIlroy deciding to make his return to competition at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will have come as a surprise to many – including Shane Lowry.
Given the significance of Rory McIlroy‘s victory at The Masters, the Northern Irishman probably would have been forgiven for taking the rest of the year off. Certainly, Shane Lowry doubted whether McIlroy would still play the Zurich Classic this week so soon after his fifth major win.
However, McIlroy will indeed tee it up at TPC Louisiana. And it seems that the 35-year-old feels that a team event is the ideal place to make his return, with the two Europeans looking to defend the crown they won last year.
McIlroy noted that the Zurich Classic was really important last year, in helping him rediscover the joy in playing. Meanwhile, few will ever forget the emotional interview he gave after Europe lost the 2021 Ryder Cup.
The comment Rory McIlroy made ahead of the Zurich Classic which would have caught the attention of LIV Golf
He did suggest in his press conference this week that he has more fun winning as part of a team. And with that, Ryan Lavner has told the Golf Channel Podcast that McIlroy’s comments may have come as a bit of a surprise to the PGA Tour‘s big rival.
“I watched the press conference on Wednesday on the feed that the PGA Tour provides and I couldn’t help but chuckle because Rory, to your point, said that it’s more fun to win as a team. And somewhere, in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, Yasir’s ears had to have perked up because he and the rest of the folks with LIV Golf, they’ve got to be thinking we’ve been saying this since 2022. ‘Team golf is where it’s at, it’s the future, it’s so much fun, it’s a brotherhood, there’s camaraderie, it’s more fun to win as a team’,” he said.
“Obviously, I think if Rory McIlroy was asked to elaborate on that, he would say look, this is a very fun one-off, it’s a change from the personal satisfaction you can get from just you and your caddie, maybe your swing coach and trainer, a very small team when you win an individual tournament like The Masters. Yes, there’s something to be said for collective achievement and it’s more fun when you’re both invested in hitting the shots and the eventual outcome. But players of Rory’s ilk clearly don’t want to do this 14 times a year, I think they’re more than happy doing this once at the Zurich Classic and of course, in September in the fall at the Ryder Cup.”
What Rory McIlroy said last year about joining LIV Golf
As Lavner notes, it is hard to see McIlroy pushing for more team golf on the PGA Tour calendar. Ultimately, one of the reasons the Ryder Cup is so special is because it is played every two years. For some players, that could represent the entire time in their career they spend near the top of the game.
The team element on LIV has arguably not been a success thus far. Fans have been given little reason to care about the teams, and there are certainly no strong rivalries forming yet. Every player’s main team, right now, appears to be LIV Golf.
McIlroy’s stance on LIV has definitely softened as time has gone on and he has realised that they are going to have a seat at the table whatever happens. Nevertheless, he explained in 2024 why the PGA Tour remains the place for him.
“It’s not for me,” he said, when asked about LIV. “It’s the — I’m too much of a traditionalist. I’m too much of a — I’m steeped in the — I love winning golf tournaments and looking at the trophy and seeing that Sam Snead won this trophy or Ben Hogan or Gene Sarazen or Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player or Tiger Woods or Nick Faldo, whoever it is, the people that came before me. Like that to me is a big deal in our game.
“If we were to all put our heads together and be like, OK, what can we do to all come back together and move forward and be a little more cohesive, then I would sort of be for that.”
It feels as though LIV probably needs to go further and go all in on the team format and offer a clear difference to the PGA Tour – though it may not appeal to someone like McIlroy.
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