McIlroy wants to clear the air on his decision to skip The Players
Rory McIlroy caused a little stir when he revealed via Twitter that he planned to skip THE PLAYERS, the PGA Tour’s premier regular season event. It was hard not to interpret the decision as a big middle finger. Look, as an independent contractor, McIlroy can play wherever he wants, but perhaps the offices of Chubby Chandler wanted to put out the fire quickly, so we don’t have to hear tireless conspiracy theories and headlines on Rory’s snub of the US tour. Curiously, an overly formal and grammatically proper tweet appeared on McIlroy’s account on Wednesday morning:
For everyone who is interested, the reason I’m not playing TPC this year is because I’ve never thought the golf course has set up that well for me. Hence 2 missed cuts in 2 years. I have no sort of vendetta against Tim Finchem or the PGA Tour, I love playing in the US and have always found the people very welcoming. I’m sure one day I’ll join the PGA tour again, but right now I want to put all my efforts into Europe and the race to Dubai. Hope this clears a few things up!
No mention of the FedEx Cup?? So, perhaps Rory actually wrote it himself, but it wreaks reeks of PR-flak handling. For more authenticity going forward, throw in a few extra exclamation marks.
Agree completely, but by wreaks do you mean reeks?
Too late. Damage done.
mcllroy,poulter,westwood.. all very annoying. Martin Kaymer has a lot of class and a worthy #1.
The PGA Tour will be fine without these twitter ho’s! the golf courses and overall conditions in Europe are not very good. 6700 yard par 72 tracks..really?
The Golf Courses in the U.S. are hard and difficult..so these guys are basically wimping out for easier tracks.
gosh these euro’s wine a lot!
I wonder why people are giving so much attention to these two? Rory has a bright future, but only 1 win. Westwood has proven he can’t close. Go play your second tier Euro tourneys and let the real competitors play here
Interesting, but I don’t really care. They have not done anything yet. Westwood is the worst #1 since the rankings started. How can you be #1 without EVER winning a Major. Rory has lots of potential but should not hitch his horse to Westy. Kaymer is the #1 player in the world right now and he has proven it on the course and NOT on a twitter account.
One more question…if he decided that Augusta did not “fit” his game…would he skip it?!?!?!?
That’s what I thought.
There is an old saying “If you’re scared…say you’re scared”. These two are obviously scared.
Seriously, what have any of these Euro players done as of right now? Westwood, Rory, and Ian have won just 1 event, and they already think there too good for the tour?
@Docsbro: Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam, and David Duval were also world #1 without (or, before) winning majors.
Wow…”scary and whining”…are these people serious.
Just because they dont want to play in the Players Championship.
Recent Ryder Cup results show the strength of European tour. Americans should accept that and realise that the world does not revolve around their “indoor” golf tournaments.
When top americans start partaking regularly in the European pga championship, and playing against the top players in the world…then they can be truly considered worthy of their rankings….Of course some may need to apply for passports first..
J.T.O., no one is saying the world revolves around the PGA Tour. I think most of us agree that the ascendancy of the Euro Tour is a good thing for the game (even those not worldly enough to have a passport!), but let’s not go crazy.
No one doubts the strength of the European players, but the PGA Tour attracts a substantial number of them. If memory serves me correctly, Poulter, Donald, McDowell and Casey, among others, are all PGA Tour members.
McIlroy will likely be back here sooner rather than later. On a weekly basis, the world’s best golf is played on the PGA Tour.
I don’t get the Twitter-haters. In a game that is buttoned up, to say the least, it lets the players show a little personality. Quite frankly, it makes them a little more interesting. I thought Poulter and Westwood getting on Tiger was great.
Hey Steph,
Love that you used the word “piqued” correctly in the piece about the player meeting today, but here you use “wreaks” when you meant “reeks.” If you’re going to criticize Rory for a “grammatically correct” tweet I suppose that makes sense in a way, but I suspect you hold yourself to a higher standard, no? Your writing is generally very good, so I thought you’d like the occasional reminder!
Oops, just saw that “Ellert” already made the same point.
The PGA Tour brought this “problem” on themselves. If they had left The Players Championship in April the players would be lining up to play. The tournament run of Bayhill, Players, BellSouth and Masters was the greatest consecutive four weeks on Tour. They moved the Players to May hoping to make it a marquee event. Well now we see what the top players in the world think of the event.
@Jay I am well aware of those guys history and also know that when they where #1 they where definitely playing the best golf of everyone on either tour. Westy is not even the best player on HIS tour…Kaymer is so much better it is sad.
I ain’t no fan of Finchem or The Players Championship but can you name me one great player that didn’t always include that event on their schedule?
A ‘clarification’ tweet?
Rory’s minders have probably taken away his phone for a couple of weeks….”Rory, you are a bad little boy for saying such horrible things on your twitter account….you’re grounded!” Now go to your room!!!!
DM
Good for Rory. Too many really easy courses in the States where scores of deep into the minus 20s are shot on a regular basis.
Anthony Thompson – I’m sure this family was ablltuoesy THRILLED with your shots they are stunning! I got a kick out of the brother-sister shots. They seem to get along a lot better than I did with MY sisters! : D
Rest of the world 1 PGA Tour 0. Never mind, there’s always Tiger Woods.
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Albert, where can I get some of the kush you are smoking?
Out of curiosity I looked at the first 15 events in 2010 on both tours.
Average winning score on PGAT = -15, average on EPGAT = -17.
# of events -20 or lower, PGAT = 1, EPGAT = 5.
And it’s a fact that most guys who win on the Euro Tour are not capable of winning on the US Tour so one can infer that Euro Tour courses must be a lot easier if lower quality players are shooting better scores.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
@ Stoner “its a fact that most guys who win on euro tour are not capable of etc…. What absolute drivel…look up the dictionery and learn the meaning of a ‘fact’. Oh by the way…where is the Ryder Cup…Oh yeah…in Europe.
……
That’s funny JOT. You think a match play exhibition is indicative of how players will fare individually over four days of medal play?
Tiger’s RC record isn’t too good, and neither is Phil’s, but you can add up the wins of the entire Euro RC team and they haven’t won as many events as Tiger and Phil between them!
……..
JTO, let’s take Lee Westwood as an example to illustrate my point.
Lee Westwood won the New Orleans event in his 7th start on the PGA Tour, this back in 1998. It took 102 more starts before he won again on the PGA Tour. In those same 102 starts he missed 25 cuts. Tiger was winning events at the same pace (or faster) Lee was missing cuts.
In total on the PGA Tour Lee Westwood has 111 starts, 2 wins, and 26 missed cuts. I can clearly see why he would prefer not to take a card on the PGA Tour.
What is the problem, I thought you guy’s played and enjoyed golf as participants or spectators?