1 week Ago By Jake Bayliss
Rory McIlroy had to previously play peacemaker following a claim last year that any Masters win should come with an asterisk . This weekend, McIlroy aims to end his 11-year wait for his fifth major win and can complete a career grand slam by triumphing at Augusta. The Northern Irishman has been in fine form since the turn of the year, winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Players Championship, and is among the favorites to wear the coveted Green Jacket come Sunday.
After scoring par in the opening round, McIlroy responded well on Friday, posting a score of six-under to rise to T3 on the leaderboard. Looking back to last year, though, McIlroy gave a measured reply when asked about Talor Gooch’s claim that the rift between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf had impacted the prestige of winning the Masters . Speaking ahead of the 2024 Masters, LIV Golf star Gooch argued to Australian Golf Digest: “If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his (career) 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.” The absence of ranking points awarded at LIV events makes it more difficult for players on the breakaway tour to climb the world rankings and receive an invite to the four majors.
When asked about Gooch’s comments, though, McIlroy refused to fuel the divide between PGA and LIV. "Look, the Masters is an invitational and they'll invite whoever they think warrants an invite,” McIlroy told Golf Week in February 2024. “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." Nonetheless, McIlroy highlighted that there were still avenues available to Gooch for him to qualify for the majors.
The four-time major winner compared Gooch’s complaints with a fellow LIV star’s quest for a place at Augusta last year. "At the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invite, and I played with him a few weeks ago in Dubai, and he went down to Australia and won,” McIlroy explained. “He has been chasing his tail around the world to get this, 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." While Gooch’s argument does have some merits, 12 LIV golfers received invites to this year’s Masters. Among the group were seven previous champions: Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and Charl Schwartzel.
The remaining five were Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Tyrell Hatton, Cameron Smith, and Niemann. A handful of LIV players missed the cut on Friday at the halfway stage. Johnson was one stroke shy of the two-over marker, with Garcia a further shot behind.
The trio of Mickelson, Koepka, and Smith all ended the first two rounds with a score of five-over. Of the seven LIV stars remaining, DeChambeau is one shot off leader Justin Rose in second place (-7), while Hatton is still firmly in contention (-5). Niemann, Schwartzel, and Rahm narrowly survived the cut by scraping to the two-over threshold.
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