RORY HAPPY T0 BUILD A LEGACY
RORY McILROY says he is more interested in his legacy than currency as he aimed a swipe at Phil Mickelson and his band of LIV rebels.
The four-time Major champ is looking to add to his haul at the US Open at Brookline this week.
The tournament has been overshadowed by golf’s civil war, with the LIV Golf series kicking off in London last week and Bryson DeChambeau becoming the latest big-name defector.
But McIlroy remains the poster boy for the PGA Tour and he said: “I hope I’m still building on my legacy. In golfing terms, I’m still youngish. Even though I’ve been out here for a long time, I’ve basically spent half my life on tour.
“It’s very important to me. It means a lot, going back to history and tradition and putting your name on trophies that have the legends of the game on them. That’s something that money can’t buy.
“Legacy, reputation, that’s all you have. You strip everything away and you’re left with how you made people feel and what they thought of you.”
McIlroy claimed the Saudi golf move was dead in the water back in February, but he admitted he was wrong to trust some of his PGA pals who previously vowed they wouldn’t jump ship.
He said: “I guess I took a lot of players’ statements at face value. I guess that’s what I got wrong.
“You had people committed to the PGA Tour and that’s what the statements were that were put out.
“People went back on that, so I took them at their word and I was wrong.”
McIlroy refused to accuse the rebels of taking part in Saudi sportswashing, but insisted they will need to look themselves in the mirror.
He said: “I don’t think they’re totally complicit in it. They all have the choice to play where they want to play.
“My dad said to me a long time ago, ‘You make your bed, you lie in it’ – and they’ve made their bed. They have to live with that.”