Scottie Scheffler Latest To Disagree With Rory McIlroy's Asinine Comments About LIV Golfers Returning To Tour
Rory McIlroy may be the most influential golfer on the planet not named Tiger Woods, but that doesn't mean every one of his many opinions should be accepted without pushback. Sometimes, Rory is wrong, and based on feedback from many of his fellow PGA Tour members, his recent hypothetical about LIV golfers potentially returning to the PGA Tour may have put him on an island by himself.
Following LIV golf's offseason acquisitions headlined by the additions of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, the question about LIV players returning to play in certain PGA Tour events down the line has shot back up the list Tour members are being asked. LIV, from a player pool perspective, has never been more equal to the PGA Tour.
In the early stages of LIV Golf, McIlroy stated that players who "left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed" it and should face "consequences" for their decision to leave the Tour. Last month, shortly after Rahm's move to LIV became official, he changed his tune and explained that those players who left should not face punishment if they're allowed back on Tour.
"Guys made choices to go and play LIV; guys made choices to stay here. If people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try and do something, let them come back. I mean, I think it's hard to punish people."I don't think there should be a punishment," McIlroy stated.
McIlroy admitting that he would welcome back players with open arms who left the PGA Tour for LIV - a league that has the sole purpose of overtaking the Tour - sounds ridiculous because it is ridiculous.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler doesn't agree with McIlroy's sentiment about LIV players returning as if nothing happened either.
"I have no bad blood toward the guys that left," Scheffler explained ahead of this week's WM Phoenix Open. "But a path toward coming back, it wouldn’t be a very popular decision, I think, if they just came back like nothing ever happened. "They did kind of leave and – they left our Tour, that’s just part of it. There should be a pathway back for them, but they definitely shouldn’t be able to come back without any sort of contribution to the Tour."
"But I think that if they want a pathway back, that there should be one, but it definitely shouldn’t just be coming back in the first week they want to come back and play. There should be some sort of caveat to them getting back on our tour."
(Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Scheffler's opinion echoes the same of some of his fellow highly influential American counterparts.
Justin Thomas flat-out said he doesn't agree with McIlroy's opinion.
"I would say that there’s a handful of players on LIV that would make the [PGA] Tour a better place, but I’m definitely not in the agreement that they should just be able to come back that easily," Thomas said ahead of the WM Phoenix Open.
Rickie Fowler offered up a similar take the week prior at Pebble Beach.
"They made decisions — there has to be something for it. Whether how small or big, that’s not up to me," Fowler said.
McIlroy, Scheffler, and most others wouldn't mind seeing certain LIV golfers back playing certain PGA Tour events given that their goal is the same as everyone else's, and that's seeing the best players in the world compete against one another as often as possible.