For the past year or so, four-time major champion Rory McIlroy took on a job besides golfer.
In addition to contending on Sundays, the Northern Irishman became the de facto spokesman of the PGA Tour in its rift with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League.
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour, the European DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced a merger — a move that took many, including McIlroy, by surprise.
On Wednesday, the 34-year-old took the podium at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club, one day before his attempt to win a third straight Canadian Open was set to begin.
He said the merger was ultimately the best move for the PGA Tour.
“Ultimately … when I look 10 years down the line, I think this is going to be good for the game of golf,” he said. “It unifies it and it secures its financial future. So there’s mixed emotions in there. I don’t understand all the intricacies of what’s going on. There’s a lot of ambiguity, there’s a lot of things still to be sort of thrashed out.”
Rory McIlroy left feeling ‘somewhat like a sacrificial lamb’ in wake of PGA Tour merger
Professional golfer Rory McIlroy says he still has confidence in Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, adding that he thinks the future of the PGA ‘as a whole’ is looking brighter in the wake of the newly announced deal. But he says there are still questions about how things will work, and what the change means for professional golfers.
For the previous year, McIlroy railed against LIV — presenting both moral arguments in terms of Saudi Arabia’s questionable human rights record and legacy reasoning about how it means more to win on the PGA Tour, even without oil-fueled financial backing.
McIlroy was clear in saying the deal has “nothing to do” with LIV, even as the Tour gets into bed with the Saudis.
“I still hate LIV. I hate them. I hope it goes away and expect that it does.”
Golf feud ends as PGA Tour, LIV Golf announce surprise merger
The golf world is being upended again as the PGA Tour and its European counterpart, the DP World Tour, announced plans to merge with rival, LIV Golf — the Saudi-backed upstart that poached top players like Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman with the promise of massive paycheques.
The fallout from the shock announcement began Tuesday evening, when players met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who explained the decision to suddenly merge with those funding their rival tour.
He added that one of Monahan’s points of emphasis in the meeting was that players who defected to LIV — including major champions Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka — wouldn’t just be allowed to walk back onto the PGA Tour.
“There still has to be consequences to actions. The people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this Tour, started litigation against it. We can’t just welcome them back in. Like, that’s not going to happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, per reports, when one lower-level player spoke out against Monahan during the meeting, McIlroy retorted that he should “play better.” The player then reportedly told McIlroy to “f—- off.”
Rory McIlroy on how he heard about the massive golf deal
Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy says he knew there had been discussions about a deal between the PGA Tour and the backers of LIV Golf, but says the deal announced this week still came as a ‘surprise.’
“From where we were a couple of weeks ago to where we are today, I think the future of the PGA Tour looks brighter as a whole, as an entity,” McIlroy said. “What that looks like for individual players in terms of keeping a Tour card and bringing players back into the fold and then that sacrifices other people, that’s where the anger comes from. And I understand that.”
That player was reportedly not the only one to respond with rage to the PGA Tour’s sudden U-turn. One player said Monahan was called a hypocrite.
“I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” Monahan said Tuesday. “Any time I’ve said anything I’ve said it with the information I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that’s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players.”
McIlroy said he knew the lines of communication between the PGA Tour and Saudis had been reopened over the past months, but that he only found out that an agreement had been reached early Tuesday morning.
Adam Hadwin sad to see LIV overshadow RBC Canadian Open yet again
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. said he feels sad that news of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger has taken emphasis away from Canada’s national men’s golf tournament.
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, like most people, found out via Twitter on Tuesday. Speaking a day later, he said he was “blindsided” by the news, but would wait for more details to cast judgment.
“Right now it obviously is going to feel different or feel not right or confusing and everyone’s got a lot of questions. But I do think that with time this could end up being a great thing. I just think people are very quick to jump on it being a really bad thing, but it’s too early to say one way or the other,” he said.
Fellow Canadian Corey Conners also said he was taken aback by the news, but added that his faith is in the PGA Tour.
“At first I was a little caught off guard, but trying to understand the situation, which again I really haven’t dove too deep into it. But I do trust the leadership of the PGA Tour and I think people just don’t like being surprised by things,” he said.
McIlroy said he still has confidence in Monahan as commissioner, noting his acumen as a business man. He also admitted to the hypocrisy of the merger.
“Of course. I said it to Jay yesterday, ‘You’ve galvanized everyone against something and that thing that you galvanized everyone against you’ve now partnered with,” he said.
“The one thing I would say is, again, whether you like it or not, the PIF and the Saudis want to spend money in the game of golf. They want to do this. And they weren’t going to stop. So… how can we get that money into the game, but use it the right way?
“And I think that’s what this ultimately will do, hopefully.”
Will a Canuck win the Canadian Open for the first time in nearly 70 years?
A strong Canadian contingent will be teeing it up at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto this week.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
