Rory McIlroy’s curious response to Chubby Chandler’s $950M LIV Golf theory
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Rory McIlroy had a smile on his face when he discussed Andrew “Chubby” Chandler’s comments about the possibility of the Northern Irishman jumping to LIV Golf.
But how much of Mcllroy’s response was a joke?
Mcllroy, who had been one of the rebel golf league’s staunchest critics, gave a bit of a cheeky answer when responding to his ex-agent’s thought that “there’s a 10 percent possibility” that McIlroy would go to LIV.
“I spoke to Chubby, might have saw him in the Middle East actually at the start of the year,” Mcllroy said. “Never know. He might know a few things. Who knows.”
The PGA Tour star laughed after finishing his answer, which would seem to suggest some sarcasm in his response, but it wasn’t necessarily a denial either, which will only fuel golf fans’ speculation.
When a reporter asked a follow-up about the “10 percent” chance that Mcllroy, 34, could eventually move to the Saudi-backed golf league, he responded: “Somewhere in the middle maybe, who knows.”
Mcllroy already has outlined his PGA Tour and DP World Tour schedule for this year, and LIV’s roster is already full for the 2024 season, and the league is already in its third event of the year.
Mcllroy also intimated that the headline-making comments from Chandler came at a time when he was looking for some of the spotlight.
“I think he’s writing a book, so there is that,” McIlroy said.
Chandler floated the idea earlier this month during an interview with Bunkered and felt that Mcllroy was “paving the way that LIV’s OK now.”
“If you were being cynical, you might say he’s going to sign for about £750 million [around $950 million] in a month’s time with LIV because he’s paving the way that LIV’s okay now, whereas it wasn’t,” Chandler had said. “Who knows? He doesn’t need £750 million but it’s odd what he’s done and I’m sure it’s a possibility. If he does it or not, I don’t know, but if [Jon] Rahm can do it, most guys can do it.
“I think number one, there’s a 10 percent possibility he’s favoring his way to sign for LIV, but he realizes that the whole bickering and fighting is no good for golf. The man in the street must find it appalling the sums of money being spoken.”
Mcllroy had notoriously been the PGA’s biggest defenders against LIV and had called some of the early defectors “duplicitous.”
He has since softened from that following the recent departures of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton to LIV in the past few months.
Read More: Rory McIlroy’s curious response to Chubby Chandler’s $950M LIV Golf theory 2024-02-29 00:03:00