Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy has acknowledged the negative impact the acrimonious rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf had on his mental well-being, but he maintains that he has no regrets.
At the height of the intense rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, Rory Mcilroy acknowledges that his mental health was “challenged.”
The breakaway LIV’s launch in 2022 made the four-time major champion the PGA Tour’s de facto spokesperson. McIlroy publicly criticized the league’s commissioner, Greg Norman, as well as a number of the players who joined the Saudi-funded league.
After feeling like a “sacrificial lamb” when the shocking news broke last summer that the rival tours had reached a framework agreement to merge, the Northern Irishman’s position has softened recently.
As merger talks between the tours continue, McIlroy has since stepped down from his position as a player director for the PGA Tour in order to concentrate entirely on his game.
The 34-year-old said on the I Can Fly Podcast that the story would have taken a bigger toll if he hadn’t developed a thick skin during his playing career.
“Over the past couple of years, my mental health was probably challenged quite a bit,” he stated. “My resilience has always been a source of pride for me. In my opinion, I’ve learned to become a little bit tougher in that regard because earlier in my career, I was much more easily offended.
“I believe that if I hadn’t developed thick skin, I never would have put myself out there and spoken up as much as I did because I couldn’t have handled everything that was thrown at me.
It’s difficult to do the right thing, and that’s how my parents raised me and how I’ve tried to live my life, someone said to me a lot. You want to act morally, but often that means doing the difficult thing as well.”
Even though McIlroy has recently softened his criticism of LIV, he has pledged to play on the PGA Tour and says that, given the benefit of hindsight, he would not have done any differently.
He clarified, saying, “You cannot expect everyone in this world to be like you, no matter how much you try or wish for it to happen. It is not feasible at all. I believe I became much more at ease with who I was as a person after realizing that not everyone would like me anyhow. When you are at ease with yourself, you can be a little more outspoken and say things that annoy people.
Ultimately, though, what matters is the love you receive from those closest to you; this is the stance I have adopted for the past two years. Nothing else really matters. Has it strained any connections along the way? Yes, but time really does heal, and I was standing up for what I believed in, so I would repeat the same actions.”
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