Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Prior to his first round at the Cognizant Classic, McIlroy was asked for his thoughts on Gooch’s controversial asterisk comments.
Earlier this week, LIV golfer Talor Gooch made headlines claiming that if Rory McIlroy were to complete the Grand Slam by winning the Masters this year, it should come with an asterisk.
Understandably, those comments came with tons of backlash from players and fans alike.
But McIlroy himself took a different approach, but still delivered a quality power punch.
“Look, the Masters is an invitational and they’ll invite whoever they think warrants an invite. To be fair to Talor, if you read the entire question and the answer, it’s not as if he just came out with that. I feel like whoever did the interview sort of led him down that path to say that” McIlroy commented.
“At the same time, Juaquin Niemann got an invite. I played with Juaquin in Dubai a few weeks ago. He went down to Australia and won. He was in Oman last week… he’s been chasing his tail around the world to either… play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite.”
Indeed, LIV Golf’s Niemann was recently extended an invitation to play in the Masters this April.
McIlroy hit the nail on the head. Niemann not only won the PGA Tour-DP World Tour co-sanctioned Australian Open, he has played in numerous DP World Tour events having kept his status to be able to do so.
As McIlroy referenced, he played in the Dubai Desert Classic in January finishing tied for fourth.
He has played his way into the Masters field performing at 72-hole stroke play tournaments sanctioned by the governing bodies of professional golf.
Gooch has not.
But Gooch’s comments were even more misguided than that.
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
He stated “If McIlroy goes and completes his Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk.” The question is, which players is he referring to?
Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and six others are currently on the LIV Golf tour and slated for Augusta.
Was Gooch just crying over spilled milk? That certainly appears to be the most likely scenario.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
