“I’m so sick of hearing about how Rory McIlroy is some kind of hero who is saving golf”

In an exclusive extract from his new book, LIV and Let Die, Alan Shipnuck shares the views of tour pros who have had enough of Rory McIlroy.

In an exclusive extract from his new book, LIV and Let Die, Alan Shipnuck shares the views of tour pros who have had enough of Rory McIlroy.

As Rory and Tiger have further emerged as the faces and voices of the Tour, they have evoked the activism of Jack and Arnie when the Tour was born of rebellion in 1968 as the players broke away from the rigid bureaucracy of the PGA of America.

There is more than a passing resemblance between these linked pairs of legends. Nicklaus and Palmer were born a decade apart, whereas Woods is thirteen years McIlroy’s senior. On the golf course, Jack was tactical and Arnie daring, just as Tiger is a plodding strategist compared to the freewheeling Rory. The personable Palmer connected intensely with the fans in the same way McIlroy does, whereas Nicklaus and Woods have always been more remote figures.

The friendly alliance between Woods and McIlroy is a stark contrast to Tiger’s inability to forge a lasting business relationship with his contemporary Phil Mickelson. (Anyone remember Lefty and Woods’s now-fizzled made-for-TV franchise of mano-a-mano matches?) Tiger and Rory had spent the preceding two years putting together TGL.

Cofounder McCarley observed them closely and says this about the dynamic: “There is a mutual respect there. Tiger values Rory, and he listens to him. He certainly doesn’t treat him like a little brother. Maybe a nephew.”

Yet Woods needs McIlroy, and he knows it. Tiger is rarely on Tour these days, and the younger players barely know him. Rory is more accessible to his peers and more personable. (There is also a subset of people in the game who will never forgive Woods for his scandals and transgressions; meanwhile, the squeaky clean McIlroy is universally respected.) It was McIlroy’s position on the Tour’s board of directors that helped facilitate their shared vision for the revamped Tour.

Once the Tour Championship began, McIlroy further elevated his standing by roaring to a victory (and an $18 million payday) that felt like destiny. The first congratulatory text, as always, came from Woods. McIlroy’s peers at East Lake were wowed by his level of play despite the burden of being the Tour’s chief spokesman and boardroom warrior.

“I had dinner with him,” says Adam Scott, “and asked how he was playing so well with these distractions, and he said all the controversy is motivating him to play his best. He feels like he has put his reputation on the line and the most effective way to defend himself is to win golf tournaments.”

“I think it is a huge testament to Rory,” says Max Homa. “What is he, thirty-five? [Actually, he was thirty-three at the time.] He’s got a young kid. He’s got a lot better things to probably do with his time, but he’s fighting so hard to make the PGA Tour as good as it can possibly be. Watching the guys you look up to, who aren’t that much older than you, doing these big endeavors is pretty impressive in my opinion. I think Tiger could do okay on this on his own, but I would say having Rory on your side is not exactly a bad thing. Everybody could use a Rory in their life.”

Of course, around LIV the mere mention of McIlroy’s name provokes violent eye-rolling. “Fuck Rory,” says one of his former Ryder Cup teammates. “I’m so sick of hearing about how he’s some kind of hero who is saving golf. He’s bought and paid for like everybody else, it’s just that his money is coming from the other side. Did you know that when Whoop [the personal fitness device] wanted to do a deal with the PGA Tour, the Tour insisted that Rory be one of the endorsers? He was given a $10 million equity stake that is now worth $200 million. How do you think he got his own deal with NBC [in Golf- Pass+, a $99 annual subscription that delivers exclusive McIlroy-centric content]? The Tour brokered that, too. The Tour is so reliant on Rory now they’ve given him his own league [the TGL], even though it will compete with the Tour for viewers and advertisers. Rory’s fighting so hard for the Tour because he wants to preserve his revenue streams, not because he cares about the Tour itself. That he is being held up as some kind of savior on Twitter and by all the fanboys with their shitty podcasts tells you how little people really understand what’s going on.”

Asked to fact-check the assertions above, McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, would say only, “Has the Ryder Cup teammate been drinking?” (No, at least not during the practice round when those words were uttered.) O’Flaherty asked for the identity of the person quoted, but I couldn’t reveal it because the player had agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity. “Coward,” O’Flaherty said, shaking his head. “They’re cowards.”

McIlroy had once seemed as jolly as the Keebler leprechaun, but in 2022 he became the most politicized golfer since, well, Greg Norman three decades earlier. Now their legacies were inextricably linked.

LIV And Let Die by Alan Shipnuck, published by Simon & Schuster, is out now, priced at RRP £25.

Read our explosive and exclusive with Alan Shipnuck, where he talks about whether Tiger Woods’ car crash might not have been an accident, the future of tour golf, player greed, beef with Justin Thomas, and much more.