Earlier this week, LIV golfer Talor Gooch made headlines claiming that if Rory McIlroy had been to finish the Grand Slam by successful the Masters this yr, it ought to include an asterisk.
Understandably, these feedback got here with tons of backlash from gamers and followers alike.
However McIlroy himself took a unique strategy, however nonetheless delivered a high quality energy punch.
“Look, the Masters is an invitational and so they’ll invite whoever they suppose warrants an invitation. To be truthful to Talor, in the event you learn your complete query and the reply, it’s not as if he simply got here out with that. I really feel like whoever did the interview kind of led him down that path to say that” McIlroy commented.
“On the identical time, Juaquin Niemann acquired an invitation. I performed with Juaquin in Dubai a couple of weeks in the past. He went all the way down to Australia and gained. He was in Oman final week… he’s been chasing his tail world wide to both… play his manner into Augusta or present sufficient type to warrant an invitation.”
Certainly, LIV Golf’s Niemann was lately prolonged an invite to play within the Masters this April.
McIlroy hit the nail on the pinnacle. Niemann not solely gained the PGA Tour-DP World Tour co-sanctioned Australian Open, he has performed in quite a few DP World Tour occasions having stored his standing to have the ability to accomplish that.
As McIlroy referenced, he performed within the Dubai Desert Basic in January ending tied for fourth.
He has performed his manner into the Masters subject acting at 72-hole stroke play tournaments sanctioned by the governing our bodies {of professional} golf.
Gooch has not.
However Gooch’s feedback had been much more misguided than that.
Picture by Michael Reaves/Getty Pictures
He acknowledged “If McIlroy goes and completes his Grand Slam with out a few of the greatest gamers on this planet, there’s simply going to be an asterisk.” The query is, which gamers is he referring to?
Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and 6 others are at present on the LIV Golf tour and slated for Augusta.
Was Gooch simply crying over spilled milk? That definitely seems to be the almost certainly state of affairs.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Enjoying Via. For extra golf protection, observe us @_PlayingThrough on all main social media platforms.
